


When Universes Collide

by fezwearingjellybananas



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Mentions (but not many) of Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Multi, None of the relationships are really focused on, Past Natasha Romaonff/Nyssa al Ghul, but there is very little romance, there's a couple of moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 22:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 53,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9145243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: The Green Arrow needs help from Hawkeye, HYDRA are after the Flash, and Vibe may or may not have seen the end of the world. Either way, Oliver had no idea one phone call could spiral so much





	1. Avenging Arrow

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year! This fic has been a WIP since 2015, since before S2 of AoS even finished airing, so there are mentions of canon past that (and canons for all the other things), but it's a bit wiggly.  
> It was supposed to be a short Trip Lives fic.  
> It is definitely not short.
> 
> Credit to the title goes to the marvellous AgentMaryMargaretSkitz, thank you very much.

"Oliver Queen," Tony Stark said, answering the phone. "I haven't heard from you since you died, how's that shaping up for you?"

"Mister Stark. I heard you became a superhero after I left."

"And your city still fell into the ground. I would have been there, but there's a vigilante who seems to have it covered. Besides, Detective Lance doesn't take too kindly to superheroes. And Hawkeye's grumpy everyone thinks he's the cheap knock off because he did his job and didn't get media coverage. Or I think he is. He refuses to talk about it."

"I need to speak with him."

"Bad luck, Ollie boy, he's not in, the Avengers don't actually live here, you know. Well, Bruce does. And Rhodey visits a lot. You remember Rhodey, right?"

"I remember Rhodes. Where is Clint?"

"How come you're on a first name basis with Hawkeye?"

"Tony."

"I haven't seen him for weeks, he's probably busy, SHIELD collapsed and HYDRA showed up again, I don't know if you noticed."

"But you can contact him?"

"I might know someone who can. I don't know when he'll get the message."

"Tell him I'm heading to Nanda Parbat."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He'll know."

The phone clicked off and Tony looked at it.

"Hey, J, is Agent Hill in the building?"

"She is, sir, shall I send her down?"

"No, I'll come and find her."

Agent Hill had shown up after SHIELD imploded, and Tony had given her an office straight away. He walked up to it and knocked on the door. Hill looked up at him.

"I've just had Oliver Queen on the phone asking for Hawkeye, I assume you know a way to get a message to him."

"Queen?" Hill pulled out a phone and dialled a number. "Hi Clint. No, everything's fine. I'll do my best. And to them. I've got Tony Stark here, he's got a message for you." She held out a phone. Tony took it gingerly, not quite sure what to expect.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Hawkeye said. "How've you been?"

"Fine?" There was a lot of background noise. Shouting. Also something that sounded like a cow? "You?"

"I'm great. Maria said Oliver Queen called you?"

"Clearly you didn't leave him your number."

"I did, actually, I just left him my work one. What did he want?"

"He said he's heading to Nanda Parbat?"

"Seriously? All right, I'll pick you up in an hour."

"To find Oliver Queen?"

"No, I need someone to take over for me here, you can't come on that mission."

"Why not?"

"Because stealth is not your strong suit."

"I can do stealth."

"Yeah, no. Can you ask Maria to call Nat in, she'd be a big help."

"Barton, why would you listen to Oliver Queen? How come he knows your name?"

"We've met. And I know Nanda Parbat. Well, heard of it. I know just how much trouble he's in, and I said I'd help him out."

"How much trouble could he possibly be in?"

"You know he's the Arrow, right? I taught him a few tricks."

* * *

Hawkeye arrived in a Quinjet, said a quick hello to Hill, and pulled Tony into said Quinjet. Natasha was already waiting, and they picked Bruce on their way to the roof. Neither Bruce nor Tony were sure exactly where they were going, but Natasha was and she was doubting every step Clint took.

"Are you sure?"

"Nat, Nanda Parbat. I'm not risking it."

"You're an idiot who is going to get himself killed. Let me help you. They already want to kill me, how much worse can it get?"

"You tell me. You're the one who attempted to seduce an assassin."

"I did it all the time. I tried to do it with you. It's not my fault I didn't know you weren't interested. And she seduced me."

"Mind telling us where we're going, Barton?" Tony asked.

"Somewhere I hoped I could keep secret. I need to be sure of something."

* * *

They were at a farm. Mud and cattle and everything. There was even a tractor. Clint made a face and muttered something about needing to fix that. Tony was pretty sure it was older than him.

"Honey? I'm home."

A woman smiled as she stood up from her chair.

"Erm. You must be Mrs Hawkeye," Tony said. "Barton, what the-"

"This is Laura."

"Hi. You must be Bruce and Tony, Clint's told me a lot about you." A clattering came from upstairs.

"Incoming," Clint smiled as something barrelled past Tony.

"Auntie Nat!"

"Auntie Nat!"

Natasha crouched down and hugged the two speeding children.

"There's mini agents too?" Tony asked.

"Cooper and Lila," Clint said. "This is just quick, kids."

"Do you have to go?" the girl, Lila, asked.

"One of my friends is in trouble and he needs help. Auntie Nat is going to stay for a bit though."

"Really?"

"Really," Natasha said. "Unless your dad needs help."

"I need to gauge the situation first, then I'll call you. Honey?" Clint turned to Laura and Natasha talked to the kids to distract thrm.

"I don't like this, Clint. They never had an interest in you before, just Nat, is Oliver Queen really worth drawing their attention to you?"

"Honestly? It's better I pick the fight than it comes to me." He kissed her. "You know the stories as well as I do, Lau. They'll kill innocent people."

"They'll kill you."

"At least there's a way to get resurrected."

"Don't you dare."

"I promise. I will come home again. Oliver made sure I did before."

"And you did the same. Go save the world."

"They don't know about the kids. And they will not find out, I swear to you. Anyone who does, I can't say while they're in the same room. If you didn't beat me to it."

"Stay safe, honey."

"I will."

"I think your children will want to say goodbye."

"I'll be as soon as I can. Lila, Cooper, I need to go."

"Will you be long?" Cooper asked.

"I'll try not to be, but there's people in danger."

"And you're a superhero, so you're going to save them," Lila said. "Can I be a superhero?"

"When you're older, if you pay attention to Auntie Net's lessons and she says you're good enough."

"But Auntie Nat teaches ballet."

"Ballet is an important part of being a superhero, little one," Natasha said. "Even your father has done a little dancing."

"A little dancing. I'm great at dancing."

"No, you're not," Lila said.

"Not as good as Auntie Nat," Cooper said.

"No one's as good as Auntie Nat. I'll be back soon. Tony and Bruce are going to help look after you too. Maybe they'll help you fix the tractor."

"But I want to fix it with you."

"I'd best hurry up before Ma wants to use it then. Bye sweetie, bye buddy. I love you."

Clint hugged them once more, then headed towards the door. Tony and Bruce went to follow him, but he stopped them at the door.

"I need you to look after my family. Oliver Queen is an idiot and Nanda Parbat is a bad place to go."

"What's there?" Bruce asked.

"The headquarters of the League of Assassins."

"Assassins?" Tony asked. "There's a whole club of assassins? What are you and Nat, secretaries?"

"No. Nothing like that."

"SHIELD went under and you needed a job?"

"I don't work for the League of Assassins. Tony, it's a long story, I need to go. When I get back I'll tell you, or ask Natasha. Or Laura can tell you. Please, just make sure no one gets near Cooper and Lila. Laura probably couldn't fight the entire league of assassins."

"But there's a chance she could?"

"Hopefully we'll never find out."

"We'll look after them," Bruce said.

"Thank you. I'll leave the Quinjet."

* * *

"Oliver Queen." Clint offered his hand and Oliver shook it. He'd given Clint a meeting point just outside Starling City, and he'd just about found it before Oliver arrived.

"You came."

"You asked nicely."

"I need your help."

"I figured. Dressed like that, what have you got yourself into?"

"You know the League's prophecy?"

"I've met someone from the League once, and we didn't exactly part on the best of terms. Or meet on the best of terms. Let's just go with all the terms were terrible. To be honest, I was more of a bystander, Natasha's the one that's got a history with them."

"He who survives Ra's al Ghul's blade will take his place."

"You didn't."

"He was going to kill Thea."

"And you accepted?"

"He stabbed her. The Lazarus Pit was the only way to save her."

"What's the Lazarus Pit?"

"It brings people back to life."

"Except it belongs to the League of Assassins so there's got to be some kind of side effect. Are you sure she's saved?"

"She's my sister. If it was you…"

"No. Not now. But maybe I would have then. And you and Thea always were close. Of course she'd be the one you did something stupid for. Did you offer Laurel Lance the same choice?"

"Sara was already dead when we found her."

"Oliver."

"At the time I didn't know about it. It's been too long. She would be lost."

"Makes sense. What does Nyssa al Ghul think of this?"

"She's not happy. She's in Starling."

"Working with or against?"

"With them against me."

"They think you're with the League."

"You don't?"

"I wouldn't be here if you were. Let me guess, if you leave he'll kill Thea?"

"He will anyway. He wants to destroy Starling. He's going to use the Omega to do it."

"Do you have a plan?"

"No. Malcolm-"

"I am not working with Malcolm Merlyn. Not after what he's done."

"You know?"

"SHIELD would have brought him in after the Glades if he hadn't been killed by a vigilante."

"You knew he wasn't dead."

"Not at the time. We don't deal with everything. Or didn't, I suppose, anyway, League of Assassins falls under ARGUS. You're lucky there is no SHIELD to tell me to drop this and call Amanda Waller."

"And if there was a SHIELD?"

"I owe you. Besides, I met Waller after I met you, since you were tied up with ARGUS, she might let me stick around if I asked. But I assume you don't want her help. So why me?"

"I trust you. I need someone to look out for my sister and my friends. Ra's is going to send me to kidnap Lyla Diggle."

"When?"

"Tonight."

"I'll get her out."

"Thank you."

* * *

Clint pulled his hood up as he knocked on Agent Michaels door. She answered and frowned.

"Lyla," Clint said. He leaned in as if he was hugging her and whispered. "They're watching the door. The window too."

"It's good to see you again," she said. She pulled away from Clint. "Come in, I'll make some coffee."

Clint stepped through the door and Agent Michaels shut it behind him. She picked up a baby and held her slightly away from Clint.

"Who are you?"

"Clint Barton."

"What do you want?"

"Oliver Queen sent me."

"I'm going to need an explanation."

"And I will give you the long one later, but the short one is the League of Assassins want to kidnap you to get to your husband."

"How do you know?"

"Oliver told me. He didn't mention you had a daughter, I assume he ran out of time. He probably thinks the League don't have an interest in her. They'll find one. We need to go."

"You expect me to trust you?"

"Not really, you're ARGUS, high ranking, you don't get where you are by trusting strange people who knock on your door this late. But I'm not an assassin, ignore Tony Stark. I was SHIELD. The SHIELD part. ARGUS has a file on me if you want to check, it'll be under Hawkeye."

"You were in New York."

"Yes. I can prove I'm not in the League."

"How?"

"I have a sense of humour. Coming?"

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to be honest, I do not know anywhere in Starling except maybe a bar I visited once with Oliver, I get the feeling she shouldn't be in a bar." Clint opened the door and followed Agent Michaels out of it. "Maybe you can lead the way?"

* * *

"This is nice. Nice drive through a dark city with people shooting at us, does this happen often? You should move."

"You somehow know Oliver, did he tell you about John?"

"Yeah. Hang on, just let me get my things."

"Be careful of Sara."

"I will."

Clint clambered over the seat and pulled out his quiver. He snapped his bow out.

"You realise you don't have to use a bow in Starling."

"I've been doing this for sixteen years at least, you lot nicked it from me. Oh man, I'm old. Would you wind down the window?"

"You want to shoot out a moving car?"

"It wouldn't be the first time, ma'am."

Clint shot three arrows in rapid succession, taking out three members of the League.

A fourth arrow flew as he nocked his.

"We've got company."

Agent Michaels skidded to a halt as something burst at the back of the car.

Clint picked up his coat, leaping out, and positioned himself between baby Sara and everyone else.

The last two members of the League vanished as Clint shot the knife out of the air.

"Lyla."

"John."

Clint picked up Sara as the two of them talked about something.

"Sorry about that, Sara, it's gone now, you get some sleep. Put the bow down, Red." Clint turned around. He didn't lower his bow.

"Who are you?"

"Hawkeye," Lyla said. "He worked for SHIELD, he says Oliver sent him."

"SHIELD?" Thea Queen. Oliver had only had an old picture, but she was easy to pick out. Her companions must be Laurel Lance and John Diggle, but Oliver hadn't mentioned the kid in the red hoody. "So what, you're like a secret agent?"

"Was, yep," Clint said.

"What kind of secret agent uses a bow?"

"The best kind, obviously. Here you go, she's fine." Clint handed Sara to John Diggle, and Lyla nodded at the others. Red lowered his bow.

"Oliver sent him?" Laurel Lance. "He's with the League."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we're somewhere less exposed."

"Why should we trust you?"

"Well, Red. Short answer?" Clint paused to pull his coat on (and a little for dramatic effect). "I'm an Avenger."

* * *

Clint sat in the chair, spinning it from side to side.

No one said anything.

"So this is cool. Secret base under a bar, no one would think to look there."

Still nothing.

"We could start with names? I'm Clint, and this is Agent Michaels."

"I'm Thea."

"The famous Thea Queen, your brother talked about very little else when we first met. He didn't mention the red suit though."

"It's new."

"It suits you."

"How much did Oliver tell you?"

"Enough to know that you're Laurel Lance." Clint smiled. "You sound cool. And you're John Diggle, you sound cool too. And that must make you Felicity? The tech one."

"That's me."

"But it's been a while, so I don't know Red."

"Roy."

"Surprisingly not far off. And you're Ray Palmer. Oliver hasn't mentioned you, but our paths have crossed before."

"They have?" Ray asked.

"We met once, just after Justin Hammer was arrested."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you."

"Good, that was my job. SHIELD wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be a repeat of what happened at the Stark Expo, so asked Stark to name anyone who could potentially build a suit. The only name he could think of was yours."

"It's not an Iron Man suit, it's the ATOM."

"The ATOM?"

"He's trying to get it to shrink," Felicity said.

"Oh right, like Ant-Man."

"Who?"

"Superhero in the 80s, look up SHIELD's files. Before my time, but I know some stories."

"SHIELD knew about it?" Ray asked.

"No, Nick Fury sent me to see if we needed to keep a close eye on you. But you seemed nice, far from supervillain material, so we left you to it."

"Oh. You got that from one meeting?"

"Oliver sent you?" Laurel asked, changing the subject back.

"Apparently he did a stupid thing," Clint said.

"Yes, he did."

"And Ra's al Ghul is going to destroy Starling City with a biochemical weapon Oliver recovered for ARGUS in Hong Kong five years ago, the same one that killed Maseo's son."

"And you're here to help," Roy said. "We've never had help from Avengers before."

"Wrong! I've been to Starling plenty of times, but as I am a _secret agent_ , you wouldn't have heard about it since my job is, you know, a secret. Well, I've only been once, actually, but other SHIELD agents have been here, and I was a SHIELD agent long before Nick brought up the Avengers Initiative."

"You didn't help when the Glades happened."

"We weren't told about it. Widow and Cap were half way around the world, Thor wasn't even on the world, he was off in space somewhere, I had some time off after New York, somehow I doubt you would have wanted Hulk helping, though Bruce came down a few days later as a doctor, and Tony did push some money into it I think. At the time he was across the country. If we'd be warned, we could have been there. But you didn't need more trouble with superheroes, there was already vigilante trouble."

"You're here now," Laurel said.

"Yeah, I owe Oliver one, and the League tried to kill my best friend, several times."

"They're the best assassins in the world," Felicity said.

"That's only because the Black Widow became a secret agent instead. SHIELD never dealt much with the League, honestly, I think they were scared of Peggy Carter. Which is reasonable, she could be a very intimidating person when she wanted to be. I guess that's why Steve loves her. Anyway. The League. Got a plan?"

"No."

"We could break in and kidnap Ollie," Thea said.

"Excellent plan, except for the hundred odd assassins who would kill you. He said Nyssa al Ghul was with you?"

"She's in Starling," Laurel said. "I can find her."

"Do you need a safe house? For Sara."

"She's safe if I stay with her," Lyla said.

"I have a, er, friend. She's excellent with kids. And I know where she is is completely off books, no HYDRA, no League of Assassins, and even if there were, she's with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Sara will be safe there, I promise."

"How safe?" Diggle asked.

"Loki didn't find them. He was in my head, made me help him take down the Helicarrier, but he couldn't find them."

"You're leaving?" Thea asked.

"No. But she's their daughter, their entire world, everything they do is to keep her safe. So, we can talk to Nyssa in the morning, let me help you keep her safe. I need to make a phone call."

* * *

Sam landed on the roof.

"I got your message. You realise I can't fly while carrying a baby."

"I figured, Nat's waiting in a car for you. The Diggles are downstairs with Sara."

"You know what you're doing?"

"Not a clue, but at least that's one person safe."

"So you haven't got a plan, you're just going to wing it. That's usually my job."

"Oh, can I borrow-"

"No. Why did you need me if Nat's waiting in a car?"

"Because she's not going back. Here, map, don't let anyone else see it."

"Clint Barton, dad."

"Why shouldn't I be a dad?"

"No reason. It's just something I hadn't considered."

"That's the point, it keeps them safe from HYDRA and evil assassins."

"I'll take care of them. And Sara. My brother and sister both have kids, I know what I'm doing. How old are yours?"

"Cooper's seven, Lila's four."

"Jim's almost seven, my brother's kid, maybe they'd get on."

"What is this, the Young Avengers?"

"Well, I'm sure when he's older Jim wouldn't mind taking on the wings. It's his father that might be cross with me. And his mother. Possibly his aunt too. I should be going. Good luck. Don't pass the mantle to Cooper yet."

"Actually, I think Laura's niece wants it, Kate, she's almost eight, but she's good. They'll sort something out. Good luck not getting lost."

"Is that likely to happen?"

"Just call Laura, she'll help you find it."

* * *

Clint was waiting up on the roof of Verdant for the others. He and Nat had stayed in a hotel for the night, mostly full of businessmen, so they hadn't looked at his case. Laurel had suggested he leave his bow behind, but Clint liked having it close to hand.

The roof was a good perch. He'd just seen Thea walk in, which meant everyone was downstairs, and Clint was about to follow when his phone rang. He knew the number. Home. Laura had said she'd send a message about Sam, he wasn't expecting a call.

"Hi honey."

"Sam's here. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"No. I didn't- I mean-"

"Clint, I know exactly why you suggested she stay here. But it would be lucky if you were."

"What? Oh. Oh. Seriously?"

"Two months."

"I wish I could have been there."

"I know, sweetheart, but you haven't missed a birth yet."

"I almost missed Lila's."

"Budapest didn't go so well, and you made it."

"I think I broke airspeed laws, do aeroplanes have speed limits?"

"You're the pilot, honey, you're the one that should know this."

"I think I was flying too high for it to count. I'd ask if you needed help on the farm, but there's already help there."

"I'm only two months, I can cope."

"You could ask Sharon, she could ditch the CIA and join you, Nat might like that."

"Clint."

"What?"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Another baby. We'll need names."

"I was thinking Natasha."

"It's a girl?"

"Two months, Clint."

"Right. But what if she's not a girl? I mean, if he's a boy?"

"Nathaniel."

"I like that. I hear footsteps, I'll speak soon."

"Come home again."

"Yes ma'am."

He hung up.

"You look happy," Laurel said.

"My friend." Clint slipped the phone away and Laurel raised an eyebrow. She smiled.

"Nyssa's downstairs."

"Thanks. Let's do this thing."

* * *

"No one came up with even a little bit of an idea for a plan that didn't involve breaking in and being killed?" Clint asked. He was in the middle of the group, but Nat was hiding in the shadows. They weren't completely sure what Nyssa's reaction was going to be like.

"To be fair, we didn't include being killed in our plan, that was all you," Laurel said.

"I can see why you're a lawyer."

"Do you have a problem with lawyers?"

"Only when they're calling me a liar or trying to get me arrested."

"Have you been arrested?"

"Yes. And that's a story for another time, maybe. We have a whole league of assassins to stop."

"That would probably work better if a league was a measure of quantity, not distance," Felicity said. "Sorry."

"Shush, it was hilarious."

"Not really," Roy muttered.

"Red, any ideas?"

"It's Roy. Why can't you call in the Avengers?"

"Because this isn't their forte. You saw us in New York, it was loud, noticeable."

"There was that stuff with Tony Stark back last year. And Captain America was working for SHIELD," Felicity said. "Though Thor and Hulk, maybe not such a good idea." Clint chuckled. "What?"

"Doctor Banner evaded the US Army for years, and managed to become a doctor in as many countries as most people can name. He's a lot better at this than the others."

"But he couldn't be an assassin?"

"Nah, he has morals. In another life he would have made a good SHIELD agent though. Thor, yeah, though he did sneak out of Asgard. With help, both together could work. But no. We need a better plan. One a thousand million times better than Oliver's."

"What about Black Widow?"

"Do not speak of her," Nyssa said.

"I think it's a little late for that," Natasha said, stepping forward.

"You weren't there a second ago," Thea said.

"Or you just didn't see me. Nyssa, darling, how wonderful to see you again."

"Natasha."

"No hard feelings?"

"You left me to die."

"No, darling, there were SHIELD agents after me, they would have killed you. I was saving you."

"The Red Room came."

"I had every confidence you were better than them."

"Then you used me so you could escape them."

"Let's just ignore what Nat did when she was eighteen and only just out of that place and move on, shall we?" Clint said. "Thea, what advantage do we have over the League?"

"It would be really stupid to break into a place full of assassins so they'd never expect it?"

"True, but not what I was thinking."

"Thank goodness for that," Diggle said.

"You said the only reason they were the best assassins was because the Black Widow wasn't one anymore?" Thea suggested.

"Aww, Clint, did you really?" Nat said. "But they still vastly outnumber us, whatever skill any of us have."

"Experience?"

"No," Clint said. "I'll let you into a secret. Unlike Oliver Queen, I have really cool arrows."

"That's your advantage?" Thea raised her eyebrows and Roy shrugged.

"Yes. Red, how would you like some new ones?"

"You're serious?"

"Yes. It's just you and Thea that use bows, right?"

"Nyssa does," Laurel said.

"The League are rather set in their ways; Nyssa won't want my arrows."

"You meddle," Nyssa said. "Technology and tricks."

"Ollie's got one with a rope," Thea said.

"I know," Clint said. "He hasn't got the ones FitzSimmons designed though. Much better than my original design."

"Who's Fitzsimmons?"

"SHIELD scientists. At least I really hope they're SHIELD, because if they were HYDRA that would be bad. I don't know if they got out actually, I hope they did. I know their files vanished."

"Stark saved them," Nat said. "He found their files after New York. He was fascinated by their work."

"How do you find out these things?"

"I talked to him. He'd like to meet Doctor Palmer too."

"Really?" Ray asked. "Maybe when this is over he could give me some tips on the suit."

"Maybe you could give him some tips," Clint said. "After this. We have an advantage over the League."

"And it's arrows," Diggle said.

"Yes. But really cool ones."

* * *

"Loosen up," Clint said, as Thea aimed at the target. "It won't hurt you."

"You said some of them explode."

"Not these ones, these are just weighted the same. Because of the charge they're slightly heavier at the head end, which means the centre of balance is different, they're a little slower, all of which you need to compensate for when you shoot."

"Do you have to be perfect?"

"You don't. I made a living out of it."

"Do you actually think this is going to help?" Roy asked. "They're the League of Assassins."

"Ollie needs us," Thea said.

"We need help. We could call the Flash."

"You know the Flash?"

"I'll tell you later. Secret identity."

"Do you think they would help?" Clint asked.

"Maybe? He's been busy recently though."

"I might know someone. Well, Oliver knows someone, but she could help."

"One extra person."

"There might be people loyal to Nyssa," Thea said. "Are you sure we can't call in the Avengers?"

"We could. The League probably already class them as enemies just by association to Nat, I am, attacking them wouldn't change much. I could call Tony and Bruce if we need them. Falcon might be with them, he might have gone back to helping Cap with their thing. I expect Tony would call Rhodey, see if he's free. I think Thor is still in London with Doctor Foster, he doesn't exactly have a phone, but I could call Doctor Selvig and ask. But you were talking about secret identities."

"You had one," Roy said. "Falcon does."

"I lost mine. So did Nat. There's no guarantee you'll be able to keep them. I can call the Avengers if you want. Or some of them. But think about it first. It's your choice."

"I didn't ask him to do this," Thea said. "I would never ask him to do this."

"You know, when I met Oliver, he talked about you a lot. He wanted to finish what he was doing so he could get home to you. You mean an awful lot to your brother, Thea. Yes, maybe what he did was stupid. But the other option was losing you."

"What was he doing when you met?"

"You know, I have no idea. Something to do with ARGUS on Lian Yu, looking for something I think. We ran into a spot of bother with a man named Ricker? I'm sure he'll tell you everything if you ask."

"He never mentioned he knew an Avenger," Roy said.

"I'd say he keeps too many secrets, but I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. I just need to ask Felicity something, think about calling the Avengers. But, for what it's worth, I think you can handle this. You're better than you think."

Clint left Thea with Roy and walked over the computers. Felicity was sitting in the chair, trying to work out something complicated sounding with Ray. She looked up as Clint lent against the table next to her.

"This is fancy. Legal?"

"Erm…"

"Relax, I won't tell anyone. I might need to ask you for a favour though. I'll owe you."

"That's okay?"

"I assume you can run facial recognition."

"Yes."

"Don't go looking, but can you keep half an eye open for the Winter Soldier? Cap's looking for him. Said he used to go by Bucky Barnes before HYDRA brainwashed him."

"Bucky Barnes. The Bucky Barnes?"

"You're being serious?" Ray asked.

"That's what I said when Nat told me," Clint said. "But Cap told her and he'd know, he grew up with him. I owe him. He gave me a chance when most wouldn't have. Besides, Peggy trusted him. If anything comes your way, pass it on?"

"Yeah, of course," Felicity said. "Anything to help Captain America."

"Thanks."

Clint looked over as Natasha came down the stairs. Thea and Roy lowered their bows. Laurel was with her.

"Oh, you're in here," she said.

"Nat."

"I've been teaching Laurel some tricks. You wanted a plan? Budapest."

"Budapest was not a plan."

"Budapest was you failing to achieve my amazing plan."

"What's Budapest?" Ray asked.

"A magic trick," Natasha said.

"A reason to never try and be clever, it won't end well," Clint said.

"Do you have an idea?"

"No."

"Well then. Where are your new friends?"

* * *

"Who knows the story of how Captain America died?" Natasha asked.

"He broke into a HYDRA base and crashed a plane."

"Excellent, five points to Laurel. How did he get in?"

"Through the window?"

"No. Through the front door. He caused a distraction, everyone was so focused on him they failed to notice the Commandos coming in through the window and the rest of the SSR using the already half destroyed door. Brilliant plan. Worked perfectly."

"Except the crashing the plane and sleeping for the next seventy years," Clint said.

"That was not part of the plan." Natasha threw something at Thea. "You looked at that. It's just a tennis ball, it won't hurt you. Clint."

He tossed a wallet at Nat.

"Roy, this is yours."

"How?"

"Distraction and Clint's nimble fingers. He's had practice."

"How do you propose we distract them?" Diggle asked.

"I know," Nyssa said.

"Nyssa, darling, I won't ask that of you," Natasha said.

"My father gave him what is mine by birth. It's the only way to seal Oliver's claim and to take my own. He's already decided it for me. Would you say Oliver Queen is worth this, Laurel?"

"Worth what, Nyssa-"

"Does this city need him?"

"Yes."

"As the sister of my beloved, I trust you." Clint looked at Natasha as Nyssa said beloved. She looked down for a second, nothing anyone else would notice, but Clint knew Nat.

"Well then," Nat said. "The distraction. We break in, not all of us. Thea, you're with me. We use the back entrance while this lot cause a scene, interrupting Oliver on his way to his wedding. Then we break this lot out."

"He will use the Omega on you," Nyssa said.

"I've got a contact, cellular biologist, she can synthesis a vaccine probably. Agent Michaels, you can access ARGUS's files?"

"Lyla. Yes, probably. I'll talk to Waller. Or her secretary maybe."

"Get that to Doctor Betty Ross, Culver University. Tell her Natasha Romanoff sent you. While you're causing a distraction and Thea and I are breaking in subtly, maybe Lyla too, Clint puts the final piece of the puzzle in place."

"What's that?"

"The switcher-roo," Clint said. "I'm the only one who could pass as Oliver."

"I-"

"Roy, we're not arguing this. I will be the switcher-roo. I called a friend, she'll meet us there. She can break in with Diggle, Felicity, Laurel, Ray, and Roy."

"Who?" Laurel asked.

"You met Maseo?" Clint said. "Oliver got in touch with his wife, Tatsu. She's the one who brought him back and apparently she's great with swords."

"She's distraction with you, we'll run through the plan again when we get there," Natasha said. "Nyssa?"

"It will only take him a day to prepare, he will want it done as fast as possible. I must allow myself to be captured by him."

"I'll go to ARGUS now," Lyla said.

"I'll go with you," Diggle said.

"We've got a plan," Nat said. "Let's see if this thing works."

* * *

"Nyssa."

The others were still downstairs getting organised, and Natasha had taken the opportunity to slip away after Nyssa.

"Have you come to stop me, Natasha?"

"I came to apologise. You've waited long enough."

"Clint was right, you were escaping them. We were both young. It was simply…"

"It broke my heart to leave you, darling. I knew SHIELD were close. I knew they had sent someone to kill me. I thought leaving would hurt you less."

"You could have returned with me."

"It wouldn't have stopped the Red Room. Nyssa, I loved you, but it was never meant to be. I didn't choose this life. When Clint offered me a new one, a chance, a choice, I took it in a heartbeat. You would have stabbed him rather than betray the League. SHIELD would have killed you. I couldn't bring you to my fight with them. I didn't know the Red Room were so close. I would never have left you alone if I had."

"Beloved."

"That's not mine to claim any more. Tell me about her? Your Sara?"

"You would have liked her. Laurel reminds me of her. It is easy to tell they're sisters. Sara was brave, and often stubborn, she was… Sara. I don't know where to start."

"You'll see her again."

"And you, Natasha? Have you someone?"

"No. No."

"All those years and no one?"

"Not no one. Just never the right someone. Maybe I have. I have a friend. She's... Wonderful. But it's complicated."

"I wish you luck with your someone."

"And I hope you find your happiness. Good luck, Nyssa. We'll be right behind you."

* * *

Clint dialled the number. He waited for the click.

"Hi Laura."

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

"Nat's got a plan."

"What?"

"Budapest."

"I'm not eight and a half months pregnant this time."

"I don't know, Laura, we haven't had the best luck with it."

"Maybe third time will be the charm. Last time the issue was you didn't have time to finish, you rushed. It'll be fine. You and Nat have run countless missions together. If you want, I can send Nick your way."

"No, he's still in Europe pulling out SHIELD agents, you're right, we'll be fine."

"Wish Nat good luck."

"Will do."

"And tell the Diggles Sara is doing well, Bruce has a soft spot for babies. Tony seems wary."

"I guess he's not had much to do with kids before."

"He's better with Cooper. And Lila loves Sam."

"That's good. We might need some more spare rooms."

"More projects? You'll never be done, will you."

"One day. When there's not a home waiting for me to fix it up instead of being there."

"So never."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'll be home soon."

"Promise you'll be as safe as you can?"

"I promise to try. Bye, Laura."

"Bye, Clint."

"Ready?" Natasha asked as Clint hung up and slipped the phone back in his pocket.

"Laura says good luck."

"One of us will get them home again."

"Both of us." Clint clapped a hand on Nat's shoulder. Neither of them said anything for a moment. "Well, what are we doing standing around here?"

"Suit up, Hawkeye."

* * *

They sat in Ray's plane in silence.

"You asked if I'd been arrested," Clint said.

"You said yes," Laurel said.

"It's how I joined SHIELD. Someone was trying to frame me and I didn't have an alibi. Nick Fury helped me out then offered me a job. Introduced me to Director Carter. Said if I could impress her I could use my bow."

"And?"

"And obviously I impressed her, hence I became a SHIELD agent who used his bow."

"Why were you arrested?" Laurel asked.

"I'll tell you when we get back. And SHIELD was good. I met Nat, she's all right."

"All right?" Natasha protested.

"Yeah, I mean, you're no sharp shooter, but you're not bad at your job."

"Of the two of us, which one knows everyone in medical by name?"

"It's just manners, Nat, and you blew medical up."

"Technically Cap's the one who did the Helicarrier stuff, and Falcon, and Maria, Nick and I dealt with Pierce. If anyone's responsible for blowing SHIELD up, it's HYDRA."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, look at the destruction you caused last time I let you in my kitchen."

"I followed the instructions, your book must have been wrong."

"Do you two do this all the time?" Diggle asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Clint said. "Though usually I'd be flying."

"You okay, Thea?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah. Fine."

Roy put an arm over her shoulder.

"We'll get him back," Laurel said. "Whatever it takes."

"You've got fancy arrows you can show off," Clint said. "It'll be fine."

* * *

"That could have gone better," Felicity said.

"You think?" Diggle said.

Diggle, Ray, Roy, Felicity, and Laurel sat in a cell, along with Tatsu. She seemed nice.

Ra's al Ghul looked at them. Oliver stood next to him, his face covered.

"You were foolish to think this would work."

"Oliver, stop this," Diggle said.

"Come, Al Sah-him."

Something smashed in the cell.

The cell was locked.

Natasha opened the cell.

"Hi," Thea said. "How are we all?"

"Meet my new apprentice," Natasha said. "She's great. We'll still have one to one, Laurel."

"I don't think Oliver's going to be happy about that," Laurel said.

"She's the Black Widow," Thea said. "What was I supposed to do, say no?"

"Not the time," Lyla said. "Let's get out of here."

"Excellent idea," Natasha said.

"Ollie!"

"Thea? What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you."

"I asked Clint to protect you, not help you break in."

"Yeah, sorry, you don't get a say in what my apprentice can and can't do."

"Sorry?"

"Oliver, Black Widow, Black Widow, Oliver," Ray said. "Where's Clint?"

"Getting married to Nyssa."

"Everything's going to plan," Natasha said. "Thea, you've got those arrows?"

"This is going to be a blast."

"It's been what, three days?" Oliver asked. "What have you lot been doing?"

"You missed a lot, sweetie, come on, we'll tell you on the way," Felicity said.

"Where is the Omega?" Tatsu asked.

"Here," Lyla said. She gave Tastu a vial. "Betty's going to destroy it."

"Time to go," Diggle said, dragging Felicity out the room. She grabbed Oliver's hand, and they ran.

* * *

The wedding was in full swing, as the others were hopefully escaping.

Clint had his hood up; they hadn't noticed a lack of Oliver yet.

Nyssa paused.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I will not marry him."

"Yeah, I really don't think I'm her type," Clint said, throwing his hood off. "My partner on the other hand…"

"You."

"Hey. Sorry for crashing your do, I heard both parties think this was a stupid idea and they don't want to get married, so I'm playing Cupid."

"Seize him," Ra's said.

"You sound so old."

"Barton." Nyssa tossed him a knife.

"You are wonderful. Go find them."

"Good luck."

"And you. Right." Clint turned to the assassins. "Where were we?"

* * *

"Did we account for the assassins waiting for us outside?" Felicity asked.

"Oh yeah," Natasha said. "Now this is going to be fun."

She sprung into action and the others stared.

Thea shot an explosive arrow, knocking out several at once.

"They are cool arrows."

The rest of them joined the fray.

* * *

"Tell me why I should let you live, Barton."

Clint pulled. Two men were holding him on his knees, Ra's standing above him. The knife lay just out of his grasp.

"Well, I'm on a record streak for days lived at the moment, I'd hate to break it."

"You aided traitors."

"You tried to force your daughter to get married, you are not a good father. That is much worse than trying to do the right thing."

"You are not helping yourself."

"Perhaps he needs someone to teach him manners." Clint didn't recognise the new voice, but he had a feeling it was bad. "An Avenger. He is more valuable alive."

"See, another reason."

"And he has some information HYDRA wants."

"I changed my mind."

* * *

They were surrounded. All of them.

And Natasha was smiling.

"She's as bad as Barton," Diggle said.

"Clint Barton is my best friend, we've got a lot in common."

Tatsu was duelling Maseo, Laurel fighting side by side with Diggle and Lyla, Ray protecting Felicity. Oliver shot arrows at anyone who went near Thea and Felicity, and Nyssa was back to back with Natasha right in the centre of the fray.

"Where's Clint?"

"Your friend is gone," Ra's said, stepping in front of her. Natasha struck out, ducking and letting Nyssa shoot an arrow over her head. "My own daughter."

"You would have me dead, or a forced wife. I will not."

Oliver could just about see Tatsu. He couldn't see Maseo.

Nyssa had engaged in a duel with her father. He saw the flash of a knife and drew an arrow, but Nyssa was faster.

She plucked the ring from his fallen body.

"I survived his blade."

"It's yours," Natasha said. The fighting around them stopped the minute they saw Nyssa stand.

"Congratulations," Laurel said. "Or condolences?"

"Thank you."

"You're bleeding."

"I will heal. The waters will aid me."

"They've stopped."

"I am the Demon's Head now. They listen to me."

"Tatsu."

"Comfort her. I can see why Sara cared for you so, Laurel Lance. You make a good Canary."

"Thank you."

"And you others. I am glad to call you allies."

"We're glad to be allies," Ray said. "I think. Better allies than enemies."

"Oliver Queen."

"Nyssa."

"Your city is safe."

"Thank you."

"Do not cross the League again."

"I'll try not to."

"I'll keep him out of trouble," Thea said. "Come on, Ollie."

"Keep well."

Natasha nodded. Nyssa nodded back.

"Perhaps one day we'll meet in pleasant circumstances, darling."

"It's not our way." Nyssa extended a hand, and Natasha shook it. "But I am glad we are no longer enemies."

"You were never my enemy. I have a best friend to find."

"I wish you luck, Natalia."

"And I you, Nyssa."

* * *

"So, that turned out all right then," Felicity said. "I missed this chair. I really like this chair."

"Thea."

"You can't stop me, Ollie."

"I told them to call you Speedy."

"Red Arrow would have been better."

"Are you going with Natasha?"

"Depends, are you willing to teach us this time?"

"We'll see."

"Is he here?"

"Natasha?" Laurel asked as she burst in.

"Is Clint here?"

"No, we haven't seen him since he left."

"He didn't come back?"

"No."

"Okay. Diggle, Lyla, this one's yours."

"Sara." He held her close. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Keep your eyes open for Clint."

* * *

Bruce was making tea when Natasha entered. Sam had met her in Starling with Sara, but he'd gone to find Steve again, so it was just Natasha who arrived back at the farm. Laura hugged her.

"I'm so glad you're all right. Did Clint tell you the news?"

"That you were expecting? Kind of."

"Little baby Natasha."

"Laura-"

"You're part of our family too, Nat."

"I don't know where he is. I'm sorry."

"Is he-"

"He's missing. He's only missing, Laura, I don't think he's dead."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But I promise you, we will find him. I will find him. I will not stop until I do."

"Please. He promised he'd come home. He promised he'd be here."

"Has he ever broken a promise to you that wasn't related to DIY?"

"Bring my husband back safe."

"I will. I promise."


	2. Good Vibrations

"Central City," Jemma said. "You don't think HYDRA had anything to do with the particle accelerator going wrong, do you, sir?"

"I don't know about that," Coulson said. "But we do know Whitehall isn't against experimenting on people and metahumans have undergone exactly the changes he's interested in." Skye shuddered just thinking about it.

"The Flash," Bobbi said. "After the giant wormhole in the sky everyone knows about him. You think Whitehall would try someone that public?"

"No one knows who he is," Skye said. "I can't find anything."

"STAR Labs have something to do with it," Jemma said.

"That's going to take time, I recognise some of this, but they haven't been around since 2009."

"Do you have a name?" Coulson asked.

"No. But this person, whoever they were, was top of the game. Allegedly designed a virus that could take out any computer it was put in."

"Not Rising Tide."

"Before that. Miles might have known, but we have no idea where he is."

"Can you trace him?"

"We could, um, we could just ask," Fitz said. "Jemma, Cisco, he's…"

"Cisco, of course, he did stay, didn't he?"

"I think so."

"You two have a contact in STAR Labs?" Bobbi asked.

"Cisco Ramon," Jemma said. "He worked on the particle accelerator, we met him at a lecture on particle accelerators and antimatter, those sorts of things. We had a day off, we used to go to quite a few lectures when we had the time."

"You go to science lectures for fun," Skye said. "I'm not even surprised."

"It was fascinating, even I didn't quite understand it all."

"You didn't?"

"I'm a biochemist, not a physicist. Cisco attended it too, since he'd just started working for Doctor Wells on his, he and Fitz got talking about it and the Large Hadron Collider, it must have been a few years ago now."

"2012," Fitz said. "It was just after the, um, CERN discovered a particle that fitted with the Higgs Boson. That was the main theme of the lecture."

"Neither of you mentioned this before," Coulson said.

"It never came up," Simmons said. "We know lots of scientists."

"I met Stephen Hawking once," Fitz said. "Sort of."

"What does he think you do?" Coulson asked. "Not Stephen Hawking."

"We're working for a private research facility funded by the government," Simmons said.

"So he wouldn't mention anything even if he did know because you two work for the government," Skye said.

"We don't now."

"We can say we're in Central," Fitz said.

"Skye, any other leads?" Coulson asked.

"Iris West, local reporter, started with a blog about the Streak. Name changed to the Flash under his suggestion."

"Trip, Bobbi, you set up a meeting with Iris West. FitzSimmons, Skye, you head to STAR labs, see if your Cisco knows anything. May and I will go and talk to Central's police department, see if they know anything."

"Got it, boss," Skye said. She slung her arms across Fitz and Simmons' shoulders. "To the science."

* * *

"This is good coffee," Skye said. The three of them were sitting in a local coffee shop, Jitters. "Why aren't you talking?"

"We are talking," Simmons said. "We're fine."

"Completely fine," Fitz agreed.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. Seriously, what is up with you two, you haven't been talking since HYDRA. Is this to do with..."

"That's Cisco," Simmons said, waving as he came in. "Who's he with?"

"What are you two doing here?"

"Work. This is our friend, Skye. Skye, this is Cisco Ramon."

"Nice to meet you," Skye said.

"This is Doctor Caitlin Snow," Cisco said. "We worked at STAR Labs together."

"Leo Fitz."

"Jemma Simmons."

"Oh. Nice to meet you."

"He's engineering."

"She's biochem."

"People assume we're one person a lot. Some of our classmates stuck our names together when we were studying."

"It stuck."

"Cisco said you work for the government?" Caitlin asked.

"We used to," Simmons said. "It's more freelance now. Actually, it's why we're here."

"Is this about the particle accelerator?" Cisco asked. "Because Doctor Wells is dead."

"Sort of. It's about the Flash."

"You've seen the news."

"Cisco, we need to find him."

"Can't help you."

"Then can you tell me who set up STAR Lab's security, because I'm having trouble hacking in," Skye said.

"You tried to hack us?" Dr Snow asked.

"Thought you might know something."

"Why are you looking for the Flash?"

"He's in danger." Skye shrugged.

"From who?"

"There's a man named Daniel Whitehall," Jemma said. "He's HYDRA and obsessed with enhanced people. We think he might be looking for the Flash."

"Why? How do you know any of this? Why come to us?"

"Because we don't know how else to find him."

"We can pass the message on," Cisco said. "How long are you in town?"

"As long as work keeps us here," Skye said. "We've got a plane out on the air field. If you need us, we'll be out there. It was nice meeting you."

Skye shook hands with Doctor Snow, then Cisco.

Cisco gasped when he touched her.

"Sorry," he said. "Headache, I get them sometimes."

"I hope you feel better soon. Simmons, Fitz, we need to find Trip."

"It was lovely to see you again, Cisco," Simmons said. "And lovely to meet you, Doctor Snow."

"Caitlin. Maybe you'll be able to find some time between work and we can meet properly."

"I do hope so."

* * *

"Man, I have missed this bunk," Skye said. "You three don't have to stay. If you want to find the others at a hotel or something. It's probably more comfortable."

"You told Cisco we'd be here," Simmons said.

"We'll stay with you," Trip said. "No one to tell us when to go to bed, look. We could have a party."

They broke out the Scrabble.

"Simmons, that's spelt wrong," Skye said.

"Favourite has a u in it."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does, it does in England, and seeing as it's the English language, obviously it's the right spelling, tell her, Fitz."

"Favourite does have a u in it."

"I'm with Skye, I don't think it does," Trip said.

"You're both wrong."

"We should make a rule," Skye said. "American spelling only."

"Why not British spelling only?"

"Not English?"

"I'm not," Fitz said. "I'm Scottish."

"Put the Scrabble on hold," Trip said. "Can you hear that?"

Skye listened. A gunshot came from outside.

She grabbed an ICER and ran after Trip.

A blur skidded to a stop outside. The Flash fell to the floor.

Trip and Skye shot a HYDRA agent each.

"Quick," Trip said. They ran over and pulled the Flash up. His leg was bleeding. "We need to get him to Jemma."

She was waiting by the door.

"Oh dear, let's get you to the lab. I'm not a trauma surgeon, if it's-"

"You have medical training," Fitz said. "You saved Akela."

"You saved me," Skye said.

"I heal fast," the Flash said. "Who are you people?"

"We'll explain after you've healed," Trip said. "Simmons, I'll help. Skye, Fitz, you get the room ready for explaining?"

Trip helped the Flash follow Jemma.

"What does he mean, get the room ready?"

"Probably put the Scrabble away," Fitz said.

"Who won?"

"If you count favourite, Jemma. If you don't, erm, still Jemma."

"What's up with you and Simmons?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not as close as you used to be."

"I'm different. We're different."

"He's probably going to need clothes. And he's taller than Trip, taller than Bobbi, so you should probably call Mack and ask him."

"He's not as tall as Mack."

"Fitz, Thor isn't as tall as Mack. Just ask if he left anything on the BUS?"

"All right." Fitz pulled out his phone and Skye picked up the Scrabble.

Simmons didn't take long, and considering the Flash was walking, albeit with some help from Trip, he really did heal quickly.

"Hi," he said.

"Mack said there might be some if he left anything near Lola," Fitz said.

"Left what?" the Flash asked. "Who are Mack and Lola?"

"Clothes," Skye said. "Your suit has got quite a big hole in it. Mack is a very tall person. Lola is a car."

"You can get changed in my bunk," Trip said. "Fitz?"

"I'll look."

Skye waited until they were out of earshot.

"Your turn."

"My turn for what?" Simmons asked.

"Talking about it."

"I'm fine."

"But you're not. You almost died. And then you were glued to Fitz's bedside for those nine days, I had to drag you away to eat and sleep. Next thing I know Coulson's sending you out to go undercover at HYDRA."

"He needed a scientist."

"You asked to go. You were avoiding Fitz."

"I should never have suggested leaving the lab."

"It wasn't your fault, Jemma. Ward dropped you in the ocean. Ward found you at the airport. He betrayed us all."

"We never passed our field assessments. We spent our whole lives in a lab and then I had the stupid idea to-"

"You've saved lives. And I would never have met you if you'd stayed in your lab."

"Fitz said something, when he thought he was going to die. It's all changed. I don't… I don't do well with change."

"No one does. Especially when it's not our choice. You'll get through this. You're FitzSimmons. You need to talk to him."

"You're right. I don't know where to start."

"With what you just told me? There's Fitz, you can tell him now."

"Tell me what?" Fitz asked. He sat down next to Simmons said. "Trip and the Flash are just..."

"Here," Trip said. The Flash sat down, unaided.

"I'll talk to you later," Simmons said. "Hello."

"Hi," the Flash said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Skye, this is Antoine Triplett, Jemma Simmons, and Leo Fitz. We're agents of SHIELD."

"SHIELD."

"You came here thinking we were HYDRA," Simmons said.

"Cisco will be glad you're not. You're not, are you?"

"No," Trip said. "We're not. We lost friends to HYDRA. We're trying to stop them."

"Who else is in danger?"

"Any metahuman they can get their hands on."

"Cisco's machine went missing, just after some people came to the police station asking for me."

"What machine?" Skye asked.

"It's a prototype, designed to contain a metahuman's abilities, so the police can catch them."

"Does it work?"

"He hasn't been able to test it fully. Have you come across a Phil Coulson and Melinda May?"

"Coulson's our boss. They didn't take it, they were looking for you for the same reason we were, to warn you."

"It sounds like something HYDRA could repurpose to their own goals though," Simmons said. "Did Cisco really think we were HYDRA?"

"I'll meet you at STAR Labs."

"You were just shot," Fitz said.

"He's right," Skye said. "I'll drive."

* * *

"Barry! What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Iris."

"No he's not, he got shot," Simmons said.

"What?"

"Joe, Iris, this is Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Antoine Triplett, and Skye. They work for SHIELD."

"I met Trip earlier," Iris said. "He was looking for you."

"SHIELD?" Cisco asked. "Actual SHIELD? Do you work with the Avengers?"

"Not personally," Skye said.

"Erm," Fitz said. "Actually, Simmons…"

"You two worked with the Avengers?"

"You designed some of Hawkeye's arrows, didn't you?" Trip asked. Fitz nodded. "He's mentioned you."

"You two know Hawkeye and you never told me?" Cisco asked.

"You never told us you work with the Flash," Simmons said.

"Fair enough."

"Not fair enough," Skye said. "How come you never told me?"

"You would have met him eventually," Simmons said. "He knew everyone at SHIELD. Or it seemed like it."

"Probably not, actually," Trip said. "He went on indefinite leave after New York."

"How do you know?" Skye asked.

"He's friends with my cousin. Technically she's my first cousin once removed, I think? Cousin is easier."

"Your cousin is friends with Hawkeye."

"Her best friend is Black Widow."

"Cool," Cisco said. "Caitlin, I'm leaving you for SHIELD."

"What about our team?" the Flash asked.

"What about you being shot?" Detective West asked.

"HYDRA," Skye said. "Did Coulson mention Whitehall?"

"You did," Caitlin said. "And we told them. It's why Barry was over there."

"Those two men were waiting."

"Watching the BUS," Trip said. "Daniel Whitehall is one of the current heads of HYDRA. Simmons?"

"He's vile." She shuddered and Fitz put an arm over her shoulder. "They all are. Whitehall is particularly interested in what SHIELD call enhanced people. Metahumans fall under this, but SHIELD has records going back decades. He's experimented on people before."

"You've seen it?" Iris asked.

"No, but he was first arrested at the end of World War Two under the name of Werner Reinhardt. And not aging isn't a natural gift for him."

"But it could be for someone else," Joe said.

"We think so," Skye said. "Either way, we know the change metahumans went through is exactly what he's interested in."

"So you're in danger," Joe said, looking at Barry. Cisco nodded. "That explains why someone would take your machine."

"Are you in danger?" Cisco asked. "Skye."

"Me? We fight HYDRA, so I guess so, but it's my job."

"Where were you when the particle accelerator exploded?"

"About a year and a half ago, right?"

"More or less."

"Still in San Francisco in my van, probably."

"Not in Central?"

"No, this is the first time I've been here. Why?"

"I thought I recognised you," Caitlin said, quickly. "I must have been mistaken. Is Whitehall the only one?"

"The only one we know about," Trip said. "But there could be more. We encountered HYDRA trying to enhance people before we knew they were HYDRA."

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" Skye said. "There was a man named Mike, and something called Centipede."

They explained. Raina, Ward, Akela, all their missions that turned out to be HYDRA trying to get their hands on the serum that brought Coulson back. Cisco hugged FitzSimmons when they told them about the pod. They reached Jemma going undercover and trailed off.

"So how do we keep Barry safe?" Joe asked.

"The easiest thing would probably be to leave Central," Trip said. "I could talk to my cousin, you could stay with her."

"I can't just leave," Barry said. "What if someone needs help? What about my job? What about Iris, Joe, Cisco, and Caitlin?"

"We could stay?" Skye suggested. "At least until we stop Whitehall."

"You might need to hurry," Caitlin said. She pulled up a video. "I assume these aren't your friends."

"That's Ward."

"Ward as in your ex colleague," Iris said.

"Barry, don't," Joe said. "You running up there is exactly what they want."

"Joe's right," Skye said. "It's just Ward and a couple of others. Trip and I can handle this."

"I can help," Joe said.

"We need a back up down here, in case any of them get through," Trip said. "FitzSimmons, you stay as well."

Skye and Trip ran to the entrance. HYDRA hadn't made it past the hallway yet.

"Hello Skye. It's been a long time."

"No one cares, Ward. You aren't getting in."

"Don't shoot her."

"Whitehall said nothing about her," one of Ward's companions said.

"We're bringing her."

"No you're not," Trip said.

"You lot aren't touching anyone in this building," Skye said.

Skye shot the first HYDRA agent.

Ward stepped forward.

She shot him too.

There were still more of them than the two of them.

* * *

She woke up in a room she didn't know, after an undetermined amount of time.

"Hey," Barry said.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay put. Where's Trip?"

"Last I saw he was unconscious, but Caitlin and Jemma were on their way up. I would have taken him to them, but HYDRA had Cisco's machine."

"It worked. But you can get out here now, right?"

"There's guards everywhere."

"But you can outrun them."

"Not without you."

"So why are you waiting?"

"Your father's here."

"My what?"

* * *

"Mister Allen."

Skye put herself between Whitehall and Barry. She was unarmed. What would May do?

Probably manage to take everyone out with just her hands, so for now Skye would settle on not letting them get to Barry.

"Don't come near him."

"Who is she?"

"Daisy, step out the way."

"You heard your father, Skye," Ward smirked. Skye would have wiped it off his face, but she had better things to do.

"You heard me, Whitehall, don't come near him."

"She's Coulson's protégé." The flowered dress on Whitehall's companion was far too familiar for Skye's liking.

"Raina."

"Skye."

"Ah," Whitehall said. "I think I see some of your mother in you. Do you have her gift?"

"What?"

"The Diviner."

"Don't you hurt her," her father said. Her father. She had a father. And he was working with _Whitehall._ Who had met her mother. Her mother had a gift, her mother had been enhanced, and Whitehall had…

What had Whitehall done?

"And can someone escort Doctor Johnson out?"

"Johnson?" Skye asked. Johnson. It wasn't a bad name. Better than Poots. He'd called her Daisy. Daisy Johnson. She had a name. She had a father. She'd had a mother. Agent Lumley had said her parents had been monsters, but maybe he was wrong, maybe Whitehall was the monster?

But her father was working with Whitehall. Unless he was trying to keep her safe, knowing what had happened to her mother? Or maybe he worked for Whitehall but her mother hadn't, maybe her mother had been…

Her mother had existed, and if Whitehall had interfered, she probably hadn't given Skye up.

Her mother was one of the enhanced people Whitehall had hurt.

If her mother had been enhanced, what did that make Skye?

"Skye?" Barry asked, drawing her back into the room.

"Barry, run. I've got this."

Agent 33 brought the Diviner in.

"Agent Palamas, he's controlling you, you don't have to do this."

She forced Skye's hand onto the Diviner.

Symbols spread across it, symbols just like the ones Coulson had been drawing. Skye looked at her hand, still very much a hand.

"I take it that doesn't normally happen?" Barry asked.

"It's killed everyone else."

"This is what Cisco saw. Stay away from it."

"Cisco what?"

"Oi!"

A bump followed the familiar voice. Hunter had clearly decided to forgo the subtle approach. Bobbi didn't sound impressed.

"It appears we have company. If you would, Mr Ward."

Whitehall left, with Agent 33. Raina grabbed the Diviner.

Skye walked towards Ward.

"Skye-"

She punched him in the face and took his gun.

"Move and I'll shoot you again. Flash, find the machine, destroy it."

"What about you?"

"I'm going after Raina."

* * *

Skye ran through the underground network, chasing Raina.

The door to the part Raina had just run in was closing.

"Skye!"

"Trip!"

A flash of red and Trip was gone again.

Something spat out of the Diviner, like a mist, and everything closed in.

It was like a rock covered her, trapping her inside a statue, and the mist burned her insides, she couldn't breathe, and…

The rock shattered, the entire room shaking, an earthquake bringing it down on them

Raina looked in horror, covering her face as fast as she could.

Skye took a deep breath. She had to be calm. Rational.

The earthquake stopped.

"I don't-"

Trip ran in; the door had crumbled away. He wrapped his arms around her.

I've got you. I've got you, Skye. You're okay."

"I don't think I am."

* * *

"We'll drop you off in Central," Coulson said. "Any sign of trouble, contact us. Are you all right, Skye?"

"Fine. It's been a long day."

* * *

"Thank you."

"Good luck."

They made the rounds with shaking hands again.

Skye and Cisco were last.

He almost doubled over the minute he touched her.

"Cisco?" Barry asked. "What's happening?"

"But you're nice. You're a good guy."

"I don't understand," Skye said.

"You're a metahuman."

"I'm not, I told you, I was the other side of the country from Central."

"What happened in that room?" Trip asked.

"I don't know."

"Skye. What happened?"

"A mist came out the Diviner after you'd gone."

"It encased you in rock," Cisco said.

"It hurt. I couldn't breathe."

"And when you got scared, it exploded. Your arms flew out, your hair floated like it was underwater, you were in the air, and the ground started shaking."

"I'm not a metahuman. Whitehall… he asked if I had my mother's gift."

"The Diviner gave you one," May said. "Skye might not be a metahuman, but you are."

"I get these visions, vibes," Cisco said. "I can't control them, they happen when I touch people sometimes. I saw what Skye described yesterday."

"What did you see this time?"

"A city. Destruction everywhere."

"And I was at the centre of it," Skye said.

"I don't know the city. The writing on the signs wasn't Spanish or English. It shattered."

"Skye wouldn't do something like that," May said.

"Everything you've seen has happened?" Coulson asked.

"Phil. You can't possibly believe this."

"Yes."

"Skye. Can you think of anything that would push you that far?"

"I met my father. And Whitehall mentioned my mother. I think he... People like me get killed, don't they?"

"Lumley said the baby's parents- your parents- were the monsters," Coulson said. "Maybe they were just fighting to get away from Whitehall." Skye shook her head. If that was the case, why would her father work with him?

"I don't know who I am."

"You're Skye," May said. "You're our Skye. You're an agent of SHIELD, and a good one. You're not them. Who you are isn't for anyone to decide but you."

"There must be a reason," Simmons said. "We know not all metahumans are bad. Maybe you can be a good one too."

"I'm going to destroy a city. I don't know how to control this. I could destroy Central City right now and I wouldn't know how to stop."

"Everyone, stop," Bobbi said. "Skye, you need to calm down."

A rack of test tubes slipped onto the floor and shattered.

"I don't know how."

"Breathe with me, Skye. Inhale through your nose, count to four, exhale through your mouth, count to four. Okay? Just keep breathing. You okay?"

Skye took a deep breath and nodded. The shaking subsidised. She hadn't even noticed it.

"There's a way to learn. There's always a way to learn. Look at you. You're a rockstar, Skye. This is your superhero origin story. And you're way cooler than Captain America."

"Isn't that blasphemy? Coulson's standing right there."

"Hilarious," Coulson said. "You can learn to control this, Skye. There's a cabin, in Canada, far away from anywhere. Banner built it after New York. It's Hulk proof. You wouldn't break it."

"I can help," Barry said. "I know a little bit about getting superpowers. I ran into a van full of laundry. And I kept passing out."

"High metabolism," Caitlin said.

"Just like Captain America," Simmons said.

"And I'm more like the Hulk," Skye said.

"Bruce Banner is amazing," Fitz said. "Have you read any of his work, it's incredible."

"Fitz has a crush," Simmons said.

"I have a purely academic love for well written physics, unlike your crush on Peggy Carter."

"I highly respect her. And she happens to have been incredibly attractive. But that's simply a fact, not a crush."

"Please never have this conversation in front of me again," Trip said.

"She is really quite-"

"Simmons, please, you're talking about my grandmother."

"Peggy Carter's your grandmother? The Peggy Carter?"

"We knew about your grandfather," Fitz said.

"But not that your grandmother founded SHIELD."

"Who's your grandfather?" Joe asked.

"Gabe Jones," Trip said.

"I did a history project on him," Iris said. "He was amazing."

"Yeah, he was."

"And Peggy Carter was your grandmother," Simmons said. "Which means your cousin is Sharon."

"How do you know Sharon?"

"Clint."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Can we leave these three behind?" Skye asked. "You had to do those essays too though? I did mine on Morita, but Gabe Jones was my second choice."

"Barry did his on Jim Morita," Joe said. Skye high fived him. "Is that HYDRA gone?"

"Whitehall might be," Coulson said. "But there'll be more out there. We'll find them. Simmons, can you just check over Skye first, make sure everything's okay?"

"Doctor Snow knows about metahumans, maybe she'd be better qualified?" Simmons said. "She has experience with enhanced DNA. I don't."

"Doctor Snow, then. If you wouldn't mind?"

"This way, Skye."

* * *

The cabin was in the middle of nowhere, and from the way Coulson had talked about it she expected it to be empty, but there was heating, a functional kitchen, even an internet connection. The walls were wooden panels, but it was easy to pry one off to reveal the underneath.

A huge fist had imprinted itself in the metal under layer. Skye placed her own on it.

It was at least twice the size.

"You okay there?"

"Mack."

"Got your stuff."

"Thanks."

"You all right?"

"I'm going to destroy a city," Skye said. Mack put the box down and hugged her.

"Maybe not. Maybe the city needs destroying."

"Why would a city need destroying?"

"Overrun by zombies."

"Zombies." Skye pulled back to see if he was laughing.

"Everything you've seen and you don't think zombies is a legitimate theory."

"Simmons is scared of me."

"No she's not. This is an alien thing."

"And aliens were the thing that caused Coulson to have his episodes and before that she almost died."

"She's not scared of you."

"She's scared for me."

"You'll be okay. We'll keep an eye on Simmons."

"Thanks, Mack."

"Take care of yourself."

"You too."

* * *

"How did you control it?" Skye asked. It was more or less the middle of the night, but Skye had had a nightmare and woken up with the whole cabin shaking. It must have triggered an alert Coulson saw, because she was just getting up and found Barry at the door. The others were still looking for Whitehall, and Barry could get there fastest. He'd come in and sat with her while she got it back under control.

"Practice. A lot of concentration. Once you get used to it, it gets easier."

"Same as most things in life. I'm going to make hot chocolate, do you want one?"

"Please."

"You need to try Fitz's hot chocolate, I don't know what he does, but it's good."

Skye headed into the kitchen, opening up the supplies Simmons had packed. Mostly healthy foods, some treats, and a blanket.

She smiled at the sandwich.

"Prosciutto and mozzarella with just a hint of pesto aioli."

Skye turned the tap on, thinking.

The water swirled round. Like a corkscrew.

Skye held up her other hand and laughed. She twisted her hands, focusing, and it span the other way.

"Barry!"

He ran in.

"Are you doing that?"

She concentrated, pulling the water into a ball, before it splashed down.

"Aww."

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know. It was like everything was moving, and I pushed it."

"What else can you do?"

"Let's find out."

* * *

"Metahumans in Central," Barry said. "I've got to go."

"All right. Which ones?"

"Cisco hasn't named them all yet, but they seem cross. Guy in charge is Hyde."

"Need a hand?"

"You've only had two days training."

"As a metahuman, I've had months as a SHIELD agent."

"Are you sure?"

"Worried your city's in danger? Cisco would have recognised Central, and he said the sign wasn't English. Trust me. I can do this."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, won't know if I don't try. Come on Barry, give us a lift."

* * *

Barry skidded to a halt, Skye's arms round his neck, hair all over the place.

"Blimey." She paused. Clearly FitzSimmons and Hunter were rubbing off on her.

"Skye!"

"Skye!"

"Simmons? Fitz?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Barry said there were metahumans?"

"Well, it's a long story," Simmons said.

"They're not metahumans," Fitz said.

"They're some of the more dangerous enhanced from the register."

"Lead by a man named Cal."

"He seems cross with Coulson."

"Said Coulson was taking his daughter from him."

"He's not…"

"Yes," Skye sighed. "That'll be the one."

"Oh, Skye," Simmons said. "Shouldn't you get somewhere safe?"

"I can handle this."

* * *

"Ow."

"You're okay!"

"Simmons, what are you- mphm."

She practically jumped on Skye, hugging her. Simmons pulled back at Skye's wince.

"Oh, thank goodness, after you passed out we thought, well-"

"Simmons, what are you talking about?"

"You vibrated the molecules in the air, threw everyone off their feet, but you didn't seem to be in control. You were just hurting yourself."

"I did what?"

"You broke your arms, Skye. You couldn't stop the vibrations from stopping outside so you pushed them in. Your forearms are full of small fractures, Trip had to Ice you, they could have shattered."

"That explains the ache. Remind me to thank him for shooting me."

"You're on a lot of medication. Coulson wants to send you back, said you rushed into this."

"You think this is why I destroy a city."

"I don't know, Skye. But you're a good person. If you do it's because you don't have a choice. We're coming with you."

"What?"

"Fitz, Trip, and me. We're going to that cabin with you."

"You could get hurt."

"So could you. If it had been one of your organs instead of your arms, we might not have been able to save you. Fitz and I were wondering if you wanted us to design you anything. To help keep them under control until you learn how."

"Don't SHIELD need you?"

"We're your friends, Skye, your family. You need us too."

* * *

"It was lovely meeting you all," Simmons said. They were standing by the BUS, May and Bobbi inside prepping for flight. "We really must compare notes sometime, Doctor Snow."

"I look forward to it, Doctor Simmons."

"You're sure no one else is going to come after Barry?" Joe asked.

"Nature of the job, I'm afraid," Coulson said. "But Whitehall's dead. If we hear anything, we'll let you know."

"Thanks," Barry said. "If you need any help with the vibration thing…"

"Like a name," Cisco said. "You can't be Vibe, that's what we call my vibes. Shake, something…"

"Quake," Skye said.

"Naming things is my job but I will let that one slide because actually that's pretty good."

"Oh no," Simmons said. "Does this mean you're going to need a suit and everything?"

"May and Bobbi just wear their SHIELD gear."

"Yes, but they're not… Yes, fine. We'll make some adjustments if you're going to be running round quaking everything."

"Fitz, we're going to have to put up with a lot in this cabin," Trip said.

"I'm sure, er, I'm sure Skye won't-"

"Oh no, I am definitely using this to wake you and Trip up."

Fitz groaned.

"I'll pack the Scrabble," Trip said.

"Coulson, we've got a mission," May came out the BUS, frowning.

"Fury?"

"Romanoff."

"Hasn't she got the Avengers now?"

"She was working with Queen. More his friends, he called in that favour from Barton."

"Oliver?" Barry asked. "Last I heard he was fighting assassins."

"Hawkeye and Widow fixed it, but he disappeared. She knows you're with me, there's no point hiding."

"I suppose Doctor Banner might be able to teach Skye some tricks," Coulson said. "Stark's going to be cross."

"I guess we'll see you around," Skye said. "The Avengers? Can I call Ace?"


	3. Thunderbolts and Lightning

"Are you sure about this?" Tony asked. After Natasha had arrived alone, again, they'd called Sam and Steve. But there was still no sign of Clint.

"Nyssa assured me the League do not have him," Natasha asked.

"And you trust the word of an assassin who once tried to kill you."

"And I tried to kill her. We can trust her on this."

"I know she's your ex, Romanoff, but she's still in charge of an army of assassins, one of whom took your best friend."

"She isn't her father."

"Say you do trust her, what then? What about Barton?"

"Someone else took my best friend and I plan to find out who."

"So who's this other person you called?"

"Melinda May. Do not call her the Cavalry. She was one of SHIELD's top field agents before Bahrain. Don't talk about that either."

"Got it, Bahrain is her New York."

"Tony."

"I'm dealing with it, you sound like Pepper."

"I don't see how that's a bad thing. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Fine. Who's this person Clint asked to keep an eye out for Bucky?"

"Felicity Smoak, she's one of Oliver Queen's friends. He called you, didn't he?"

"Our paths crossed. Before all this. Who'd kidnap Barton?"

"Do you want the long or short list?"

"Lunch is ready you two."

"Thanks, Laura, we'll be right along." Natasha nodded as Laura left again. "Tony?"

"She's nice."

"Yes."

"Clint said she could probably take on several members of the League of Assassins."

"Possibly. I've learnt not to ever underestimate a Barton. However much Clint wants everyone to. Coming?" Natasha and Tony headed through to the kitchen and sat next to each other so they could carry on talking.

"What about Nyssa, how did you meet her?"

"We were seventeen. Probably. Neither of us was sure exactly, it wasn't long after the… I was seventeen. We were rivals. Heir to the Demon and Prize of the Red Room. How do any assassins meet? We were sent to kill each other."

"Do you meet anyone any other way?" Sam asked, holding out a plate.

"I wasn't sent to kill you. Thanks."

"But people were after you."

"True. We met, and we were fairly well matched in skill, I chose not to kill her. I'd never done anything like that before. The Red Room came after me, and SHIELD were after me, I left. It was a few months, barely a year, that was all. Clint found me. He was ordered to put an arrow through me but instead he offered me a hand. Said sometimes people deserve a second chance. That I could be more than what they made me."

"And then he was put on probation for six months while we argued with the World Security Council," Nick said. "It was not an easy six months."

"Clint's like that, though, he tries to see the best in people," Laura said. Natasha didn't miss her absently rubbing her stomach. Nick wouldn't either, but he would have been one of the first to know anyway.

"How did you meet?" Bruce asked.

"His brother lived in the apartment under mine, and Clint stayed with him when he was on leave. He was still in the army back then, I was studying art. I went out to paint a lot and ran into him at the nearby park. We'd briefly met a couple of times before, but we got talking, and kept going. When it started getting dark, he walked me home, and offered to buy dinner on the way to make up for distracting me before he realised he only had some loose change in his pocket. He's only gone out for a walk. I told him he could just owe me. It went from there." Laura smiled at the memory. "Melinda's here."

A knock came from the door and she went to open it.

The others waited in the kitchen while she talked.

"See, just in time for lunch," Laura said.

"How are you holding up?" Coulson asked.

"As ever, Clint has the worst timing possible."

"Agent Coulson."

"Mr Stark."

"You're dead."

"Temporarily."

"Temporarily dead."

"Only five days."

"I think maybe you should explain."

* * *

"Trip can take the Quinjet up to the cabin," Coulson said.

"Sir-"

"You need to get this under control, Skye, we don't want any more broken arms," Simmons said. "We'll still come. Fitz and I aren't exactly…"

"We've got enough help here," May said. "It's better you learn to control your powers before rushing in."

"If you say so."

"I have a theory," Fitz said. "When you, er, with the water…"

"It felt like everything was moving."

"Atoms vibrate. You can manipulate how much. Maybe."

"Go to the cabin," May said. "We'll be fine."

"Come on," Trip said. "We'll see you soon."

The four of them headed back to the Quinjet.

"All right then," Tony said. "Let's find ourselves a Hawkeye."

* * *

Natasha found Laura sitting upstairs, breathing slowly. She sat next to her.

"You okay?"

"Just feeling a bit sick. Nothing to worry about. I've been through this before."

"Not alone."

"I'm not alone though, am I? You're here."

"But I'm not him."

"You'll find him. You always bring him home."

"Not always in one piece."

"It's Clint. I just need to know he's alive."

"You sure you're okay?"

"This isn't my first child, Nat, I know what I'm doing."

"I thought the nausea happened in the morning."

"There's no sign of him, is there?"

"Not that we can find. Nor Felicity or Skye. He'll be fine, Laura."

"I know. I expect he's planning an escape right now. He'll come home. He always does. Whoever took him wants him alive, or they wouldn't have bothered to take him."

"I'll cook dinner."

"That's sweet of you, but I'll work something out. Maybe it would be easier to order something."

"How are Coop and Lila?"

"I don't think they really understand. Nick's with them at the moment."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Paint. I'm going to stand outside and paint, I will finish this piece, I will come inside, I will put my children to bed, I will tidy up, I will get some sleep, I will wake up in the morning and take Coop and Lila to school, and I will carry on functioning because that's all I can do. I've done this before, remember. He wouldn't want me to stop because of him. And if it comes to it, you tell him the same thing."

"Laura-"

"You will find him, Nat. I trust you. I'm not going to be a lot of help in that room."

"We can go somewhere else."

"No. It's home, of course you all came running. Clint's already suggested building a few more spare ones, I think he's right."

"I still get my room."

"Naturally."

"Need help carrying stuff downstairs?"

"Can you grab my easel; Lila will come running the minute there's an opportunity to make a mess."

* * *

"Are these the bad guys that took Dad?"

"We don't know, Coop," Laura said "Come on, time to brush your teeth."

"What about the bad guys from last time?"

"Loki?" Steve asked. Laura shot him a look. "Sorry. Good night, Cooper."

"No, the other ones, the ones that were on the news, the ones that destroyed SHIELD."

"Cooper Bernard Barton-"

"Good night."

Cooper nearly sprinted upstairs.

"I'll go and tuck them in."

"Laura, there haven't been any strangers hanging around, have there?" Steve asked.

"No."

"We know HYDRA have brainwashing technology, and we know they don't have the Winter Soldier," Bobbi said. "And they've been experimenting on people. Most of the Winter Soldier's kills were quick, effective, a lot from a distance."

"Bucky always was a sniper," Steve shrugged. "We did cover that bit?"

"I think I missed it, mate, the Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes?"

"Surprised you've heard of him, Hunter," Bobbi said. Hunter shot her a look. "But if you're missing a sniper and you can change what someone believes in, you'd go for the world's best marksman, wouldn't you? Or the man widely acknowledged as such."

"HYDRA took him to become the new Winter Soldier," Laura said.

"They might not have succeeded."

"Bruce, would you mind staying and taking care of my children?"

"Where are…"

"I'm going to get my husband back."

"But you're, I mean, surely, wouldn't, erm…"

"You're not going anywhere, you're pregnant," Natasha said. "And you're not a SHIELD agent. We will find Clint. I promised I would, didn't I?"

"Fine. But you tell me exactly what you're doing."

"Laura-"

"Exactly what you're doing."

"Fine."

* * *

Jane Foster was not expecting company. In fact, quite the opposite, she had planned to avoid as many people as she could in an attempt to remove all distractions so she could finish her work.

Instead she found herself answering the door to Colonel James Rhodes.

"Thor's not here."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Darcy, Ian, and Erik said something about visiting the Science Museum while I 'carry on being a boring stick in the mud and finish the waffling'. They say visiting the Science Museum for the fifth time in the past six weeks."

"Writing a paper?"

"Writing a book."

"Best of luck. Science Museum. That's…"

"Kensington Station, if you take the Tube."

"I don't know London at all."

"My mother lives here, sometimes. But I'm assuming you don't have time to look around."

"Not today. Maybe next time. Thanks. Good luck with the book, can I put my name down for a copy when you're done?"

Jane smiled and Rhodey went to find the station. It wasn't far, and it wasn't long before he was standing outside the Science Museum.

He stepped inside.

"Aren't you that Rhodes bloke?" a man asked. "There's not going to be another alien invasion, is there? Greenwich was in a right state, and I could've sworn I saw Thor earlier."

"Where exactly?"

"Upstairs, but it's a big museum."

"Thanks."

Rhodey tried not to get distracted as he headed in search of Thor. A few people were helpful.

"Thor?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Colonel James Rhodes, I'm a friend of Tony's."

"Stark? Does he require something?"

"Actually, I'm here on behalf of Captain Rogers. Hawkeye's missing. Long story. He's reassembling the Avengers."

"I see."

* * *

It didn't take long to bring Thor up to speed. He got in contact with Sif so she could help Skye. She knew about Inhumans.

"So we have no idea where to start," Rhodey said. "At all."

"We've got a couple of things to find," Steve said. "SHIELD had Loki's sceptre."

"You mean HYDRA have it."

"Asgard doesn't," Thor said. "It's still on Earth. We must to find it."

"I thought we were here to find Agent Barton," Sam said.

"We will," Steve said. "As soon as we have a lead. Agent Morse?"

"I've got nothing on Clint, but the League is big. If the League did a deal with them, they were big too."

"You still think HYDRA."

"What happened in that HYDRA base?"

"Which one?"

"The first one. Specifically when you found Sergeant Barnes."

"He was on a table, repeating something, a number."

"Did he remember you?"

"It took a moment. But last time he'd seen me I was quite a lot shorter and wasn't dressed in a knitted costume with a stage prop on my head."

"Red Skull had the serum," Natasha said. "Reports all said they were experimenting on people in there, it's possible he received a an attempt at replicating it."

"It would explain how he survived," Steve said.

"We've encountered brainwashed agents before," Bobbi said. "HYDRA convince them they're the right side. But it can be broken, and Whitehall was arrested after the Second World War, it's not what was used on Sergeant Barnes. Something that wipes his memory, the serum is probably the only reason he can recover at all."

"But Clint is not enhanced," Natasha said.

"And Whitehall is dead," Bobbi said. "If HYDRA want an agent, they'll need a different way to control them."

"The sceptre," Thor said.

"Looks like it."

"We don't know if Clint can be controlled again," Natasha said. "We don't know he's not already. But it's the only idea we've got. We have five months."

"What happens in five months?" Rhodey asked.

"Laura's due in just under six, and he promised he'd be there."

"Five months to find Hawkeye going on a theory. It's better than nothing. Where do we start?"

* * *

**_1998_ **

"Colonel Fury, sir."

"I hear you're a captain now, Barton."

"I don't think I'm anything now, sir." Clint sat back down opposite Fury. A guard hovered.

"They're building a strong case against you."

"My lawyer's already told me. I don't have an alibi. They've found motive, means, and evidence. My word won't mean anything unless some different evidence shows up."

"Do you expect them to find some?"

"You don't believe me either."

"On the contrary, Barton, I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"I'm going to jail, Nick. There's no way I can win this case."

"You've got a nice life. Secure job. Steady relationship with your girl. Enough saved up to buy a house together. Why throw all that away for a guy she hadn't looked at in years?"

"I will end up dishonourably discharged, I will go to jail, if I ever get out I will never get another job. I haven't seen Laura since I was arrested, she doesn't want to talk to me. I haven't seen Barney either, he said he's caught up with work, but I think he just doesn't want to see me. Any money I had will be going into the pocket of this lawyer. And he was getting pushy with her. She was scared. Wouldn't tell me what he'd said. That's my motive."

"So you're going to give up?"

"There's nothing I can do except tell my side of the story."

"You handed in your notice after your last leave. She didn't know."

"It was supposed to be a surprise. A new start for us."

"In your new house."

"I wasn't home because I was looking for an engagement ring."

"You were going to spring that on her."

"We've talked about it. And it wasn't immediate, I still had to wait for orders and my dismissal, I couldn't say for certain when my time would be up. I'd still be going back if this hadn't happened."

"What if I had the piece of evidence that could get you off?"

"You're serious?"

"Not yet. The people I work for have been following up some leads. Found some big names in the criminal underworld."

"Oh."

"You knew?"

"I know Laura's family are involved in something, I know he was tied up in that somehow, it's why I've only met her sister and she doesn't talk about anyone else. Laura said art was her way out."

"If I follow this lead she could be dropped in it."

"She has been anyway. It's only a matter of time."

"I'll see you in two weeks, Barton."

* * *

"Really, Nick, I can't thank you enough."

"What will you do now?"

"I don't know. My record's clean, but I'm still going to need a new job. And I guess we're going to need to move."

"The phrase protective custody has come up a few times," Laura said. "I think we both need a fresh start."

"You were a good soldier, Clint. What was it they called you? Hawkeye?"

"Circus stage name from before Barney and I left to get educations and join the army. Someone managed to find pictures, probably Barney, and everyone thought it was hilarious."

"I might be able to offer you a job, Hawkeye."

* * *

**_Present Day_ **

The plate slipped through Laura's fingers and smashed on the floor.

"Here, let me," Sharon said. "You're really worried about him, huh?"

"Bobbi said HYDRA could be trying to brainwash him again."

"He'll be okay. He's Clint, he probably annoyed them so much they let him go and he got lost on the way home."

"Maybe. Thank you for staying."

"Any time. You've both helped me before, and Aunt Peggy was fond of Clint."

"How is she?"

"She's okay. As well as can be expected, I suppose."

"It's hard."

"She's Peggy Carter. She fought in World War Two, she founded SHIELD, she fought the first Black Widow multiple times and won, there's legends about her."

"And here she is, so very human."

"It's just hard, I guess. Watching anyone in your family go through that. There's days I go and see her and I have to introduce myself over and over again because she doesn't remember. Trip's the same. Sometimes she calls him Trip, sometimes she calls him Gabe."

"We'll always be there for you, Sharon."

"I know. Thank you. They'll find Clint."

"I know. It's what state they find him in I'm worried about."

* * *

Skye had no hits on facial rec.

"It's their fifth HYDRA base this month," Trip said. "And we're no closer to finding the sceptre, Hawkeye, the Winter Soldier, or anything."

"There's five less HYDRA bases though," Simmons said. "And Skye's getting much better at controlling her vibrations, and we know what caused them now, thanks to Lady Sif."

"Maybe they'll call and say they need help with a base," Skye said. "We can go down, well, you and Fitz can stay out of the action if you want, and Trip and I can join in."

"The world can see Quake in action."

"Remind me to call Cisco and ask if he wants a vibrations team up. We'll be called Good Vibrations, and have our own theme music."

"They haven't called Barry in," Trip said. "I would have thought he'd be quite helpful at this point."

"He's probably dealing with something in Central," Simmons said. "They seem to have terrible luck."

"They're renaming Starling Star City," Fitz said. "Rebranding."

"Not stealing another name then?" Skye said.

"Will you stop laughing at that?"

"You thought Gotham meant a tiny village in what's it called."

"Nottinghamshire," Simmons said. "It's not too far from Sheffield, just down the M1 a bit. Fitz and I drove through it once because someone can't read a map."

"I was trying to avoid traffic on the M1."

"It's a good thing our flight wasn't until the evening."

"I still don't see why we couldn't just fly from Edinburgh."

"Can you hear that?" Trip asked.

"No."

A man appeared, right behind Skye. Trip had an ICER pointed at him in seconds.

"I'm not here to hurt any of you. Which one of you is Daisy?"

"Daisy?" Skye asked. "That's what my father called me."

"My name is Gordon. Your mother sent me."

"My mother?"

* * *

**_2006_ **

Clint had been rummaging around in Barney's old things when he'd been across the cookbook. He'd put the rest of the things upstairs, out of the way, but he held onto the cookbook. It hadn't been used, but there was a blank birthday card slipped in the front, so Clint could guess what it had been intended for. Jimmy Woo would have made sure it found its way into the right box.

He'd flicked through it and come across what looked like a fairly simple pasta bake, and he had been intending on cooking it for dinner, but a cry came from the other room. Clint stuck his head in.

"Honey? You okay?"

"Fine. Fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Ah."

"Hospital?"

"Hospital."

* * *

Clint looked down at the tiny sleeping bundle in his arms.

"He's beautiful, Lau."

"I wonder what those young SHIELD agents would say if they saw you crying over a baby?"

"I'm allowed to cry, it's my baby. Little Cooper Barton. Hey there, Cooper, shall we give you back to Mama now?"

Clint placed him gently in Laura's arms. He kissed the top of her head.

"You're amazing."

"You helped."

"You did all the heavy lifting. He's perfect."

"Isn't he?"

* * *

**_Present Day_ **

"Still no sign of him, Laura." Natasha said. "That's a good thing. It means he's not working for them, and he's still alive."

"It's been months."

"He promised he'd be there."

"How is everyone?"

"Okay, I think. HYDRA are fractured, I'm not sure even they know who's in charge. Sokovia keeps popping up."

"I've never heard of it."

"It's a tiny country in Eastern Europe, just north of Serbia, it shares a border with Hungary and Romania too. No registered SHIELD bases, but things like this HYDRA would have wanted kept under wraps."

"Things like what?"

"I've got a bad feeling. Not about Clint, about this whole HYDRA thing."

"Trust it."

"I could be wrong."

"But you rarely are with stuff like this. Do you need help?"

"No, we're fine, if all else fails we'll call in Queen and his lot, but we've got SHIELD as our back up."

"Sharon-"

"Is staying with you, to keep you safe."

"You have a second idea?"

"They could have found you, and they framed Clint once before."

"It's not them. If it was them something would have happened by now."

"You're sure?"

"Follow your HYDRA idea. Even if you don't find Clint, you need to recover that sceptre."

"We'll be home soon. How's little Natasha?"

"They're fine. Not sure they're a girl though, from the last scan."

"I thought you weren't finding out?"

"I haven't, not intentionally. I don't know for certain."

"You thought of any middle names?"

"Middle names are Clint's job. We've got a Bernard, and Lila's Nicole after Nick, he mentioned something about Maria or a Margaret last time, but I don't know if he's got any ideas if they're a boy. We didn't come up with names for Lila until we knew she was a girl, and Bernard and Nicholas were the only two we considered for Cooper."

"We'll have to get him home soon then. Last minute name ideas would be terrible."

* * *

"Skye-"

"He knows my mother, Trip. She's alive."

"You met your father. And you know what Lumley said."

"But maybe it was just him. Maybe she was just getting away from Whitehall. Maybe he was wrong. She's my mother."

"Go," Fitz said. "This place sounds like a, a…"

"Safe haven for Inhumans," Simmons said.

"Yes. And you've been searching for years."

"We can keep you safe, if that's what this is about," Simmons said.

"It's not," Skye said. "You don't understand, you know your parents."

"Fitz, what if it was your father?"

"I wouldn't go. But it's different. I had Mum, and he chose to leave us. Skye didn't have either of her parents and she was taken from them," Fitz said. "This whole thing started because she wanted to know."

"We can't stop you," Trip said. "We're just worried about you."

"I'll be fine," Skye said.

"Maybe if we found out a little more about this place?" Simmons said.

"I can ask Gordon."

* * *

**_2009_ **

"You don't look impressed."

"No, no, it's impressive. It's just big. Coulson told me." Clint turned away from the screen to face Nick. "Rhodes will find him, everyone says they're thick as thieves."

"You ever meet him?"

"Nah, I only know what I've read."

"And from that?"

"Arrogant. His father's son."

"And?"

"That's what everyone expects him to be. I don't think he knows about his father's other job."

"I'd send you in, but the WSC have told us to stay out of it."

"And I've got a three month old at home. I don't think Laura would be very happy if you sent me off again"

"How was your encounter with Queen?"

"He refused a lift home. Still got no intel on what ARGUS are doing out there, but at least when Oliver Queen shows up mysteriously alive we'll know where he's been."

"Think he'll go home?"

"Eventually. He's worried about his sister."

"Have you heard of the Avengers Initiative?"

"No."

"It was named by Janet Van Dyne, something she said to Director Carter once. I don't have the full story, I was just the agent Director Carter proposed be the liaison."

"When was this?"

"Only a few months before her assumed death, after the Council first implemented the register. Its aim was to bring together a group of extraordinary people. To fight the battles we couldn't. The World Security Council shut it down."

"You want to propose it again."

"Doctor Banner could be considered, if he's willing to be a team player."

"Natasha."

"Agent Romanoff."

"Two people isn't a team, Nick."

"Is three?"

"Who's the third?"

"You. Even as just a consultant between the Avengers and SHIELD."

"I'm not enhanced."

"I said extraordinary, not enhanced. I need someone I can trust, someone with skills no one else has. You fit the bill."

"I'll talk to Laura."

"Keep this under wraps for now."

"Yes sir."

* * *

**_Present Day_ **

"Cap!"

Natasha tossed the shield to Steve and he jumped and caught it. Thor struck it with his hammer and several HYDRA agents fell to the floor.

"Cap, it's not here," Tony said. He was already inside, with Rhodey, going through HYDRA's files.

"Neither of our missing persons are either," Sam said.

"Go back," Rhodey said. "Strucker, that name's been mentioned before."

"Never with a location though," Bobbi said. She hit an approaching HYDRA agent with one of her batons.

"Still no location. But there's an e-mail. JARVIS, can you trace it?"

"Certainly, sir."

Natasha spun round, shooting two of the agents with an ICER.

"Got it," Rhodey said. Thor lifted Mjolnir into the air, frying an approaching tank. "You're not going to like it."

"Let me guess," Steve said. "Sokovia?"

"Sokovia."

* * *

"How's Skye?"

"She's fine," Lincoln said. He was an Inhuman, he created electricity (transformed energy already present, Simmons insisted, "honestly Trip, energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed, that's the first law of thermodynamics"). Mack had nicknamed him Mini Thor.

Mack had come up to the cabin to make sure Skye was all right (Barry had run him up, which had confused Gordon until Barry explained metahumans), and the four of them spoke to Lincoln every week to make sure Skye was okay. Usually dropped off by Gordon. Probably so they couldn't trace a phone call, possibly because he struggled getting a signal wherever Afterlife was.

"She's not here though," Trip said.

"Non Inhumans aren't allowed-"

"Into Afterlife, I know. But she could come here."

"I'm sure when she's ready she'll ask. She's just getting used to everything."

"Just keep an eye on her," Mack said. "She needs a friend."

"We're her friends," Simmons said.

"I think Mack means a friend there, Simmons," Fitz said.

"Gordon won't be long," Lincoln said.

"How's your degree coming?" Simmons asked.

"Almost there."

"That's good. Next time we have a medical emergency we can call you."

"Do you have a lot of medical emergency?"

"Well," Trip said. "We go and get shot at for a living. Send our love to Skye."

* * *

**_2012_ **

"Hi," Clint said, as Laura answered the phone.

"Hi. I miss you."

"I miss you too. It's good to hear your voice."

"Do you know when you'll be home?"

"Nick's trying to sort something, but you know what the World Security Council are like. And they're really pushing for this."

"You're not."

"Something's off about this whole thing. I haven't quite put my finger on it yet."

"Come home."

"I will. I promise. I'll be home for the summer."

"I can hear Lila."

"How is she?"

"She's fine. I should-"

"Yeah. I love you."

"Love you too. See you soon, Clint."

"Yes ma'am."

He looked down at the people bustling around the Tesseract. Selvig waved something at him. Clint frowned.

He dialled another number.

"Hill? It's Barton. I think you're going to need to see this."

* * *

_Blue._

_You have heart._

_"Tell me about this partner of yours, Agent Barton."_

Clint sat up. He climbed out of bed and went to wash his face.

Laura was sitting up when he stepped back into the room.

"Another nightmare?"

"I'm fine, honey, go back to sleep."

"You're not fine, Clint, talk to me. Please."

He sighed and Laura got up. She hugged him, and he relaxed a little into her.

"Look at you. You've hardly been sleeping, you haven't shaved for days, you're battered and bruised, and yet you keep insisting you're fine. Why won't you talk to me, Clint? I can help."

"He made me kill people, Laura. Phil's dead. I shot Nick, I shot at Maria, I-"

"Wasn't in control. It's not your fault, Clint, Nick told you it's not."

"The Council don't agree."

"They're just looking for someone to blame so they don't have to admit they tried to drop a nuclear bomb on Manhattan. Tell me about Captain America."

"He's a lot like Peggy said he was. Willing to break rules for what's right, doesn't give up, I don't think he's used to it not being the forties yet."

"He hasn't been awake very long."

"He's staying at SHIELD. Nat's going to be working with him."

"That'll be nice. Maybe you'll have a chance to get to know him. I'm sure he'd like to know more about what happened to Peggy."

"Maybe."

"Clint."

"The Council have put me on indefinite leave. Pierce told me. He said it's because they feel I need a break after a severe mental trauma. It's their way of sacking me for New York without going through the legal process of blaming me."

"Nick won't let them-"

"He took me away from you, Lau. He asked about everyone else, but he already had me, so he didn't bother. If he had, I don't know if I would have been able to stop."

"You would. You missed Maria. You shot Nick's bullet proof vest. You fought him. They can't sack you, Clint, they don't have a leg to stand on."

"But maybe some time at home wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I should just hand in my notice."

"Clint Barton, you're a good man. SHIELD needs you. The Council will realise that. Stay as long as you need, sweetheart. But you've never been able to sit still for long."

"We'll see."

"Come and get some sleep, Clint. I'm right here."

* * *

**_Present Day_ **

"Fitz, will you calm- Simmons, you're not help- Trip. She's where? What do you mean you don't know?"

"Phil, give me the phone."

Coulson handed it to May.

"Trip, it's May. Yes, I understand. Who's Gonzales?"

"He's trying to start a new SHIELD," Bobbi said. "Tried to get Mack and I on board, and Hartley, it's why we got directed to you, to be undercover."

"And you decided not to mention this before?" Coulson asked.

"We were a little preoccupied with HYDRA."

"Both of you, quiet," May said. "Right, Trip, tell FitzSimmons I'll be there as soon as I can. Bobbi's coming with me, she's got some explaining to do. Don't tell them where Skye is. Should be easy for you, then, shouldn't it."

May hung up.

"I take it SHIELD need you," Natasha said. "Need a hand?"

"We'll be fine."

"Good luck finding everything," Bobbi said. "Where are we going?"

"The Playground. Coulson."

"We can leave you with some assistance."

* * *

Trip just dropped them off, he said they were dealing with something. They'd picked Laurel and Thea, Oliver's sister Barry hadn't properly met yet, up on their way through to Europe.

The Avengers were already there. Laurel and Thea went straight over to Black Widow.

"Flash," Captain America said.

"It's Barry, Captain." Barry shook Captain America's hand, trying not to explode (Captain America!). Caitlin was trying to calm Cisco down on the other end of the comms, and Barry tried to shush both of them.

"I hear you're quite fast," Captain America said.

"Yeah, and you're quite old," Tony Stark said.

"Anyway," Natasha said. "Everyone, this is Black Canary and Speedy. No Diggle?"

"He's in Star City still, something's come up. Ray, Oliver, and Felicity are there too," Thea said.

"I'm Laurel Lance, Captain, and this is Thea Queen."

"Pleasure to meet you both. Nat, have you heard from Hill?"

"She's going in to back Coulson up, I think Fury's with Sharon."

"You think this will be enough?"

"Probably. We took on an alien invasion with six of us. We can blow up one HYDRA base with ten."

* * *

**_2014_ **

"Looking through those won't help, you know." Laura sighed as Clint turned away from the computer.

"First Loki, now HYDRA."

"I suppose we know why Pierce wanted you out the way now. Nothing to do with Loki, it was because of your experience bringing down Helicarriers."

"I should have gone."

"Nat told you to stay here. It wasn't your fault."

"You've had to say that a lot over the past few years."

"I'll say it however many times you need to hear it. Have you heard from the Avengers?"

"Stark's talking about regrouping, finding the rest of HYDRA, Nat says."

"Are you going?"

"Someone has to. Maybe I should try avenging SHIELD's good name." He laughed.

"That's the Clint I know. Do you know when?"

"Maria's working for him, she'll call me if they need me."

"When they need you."

* * *

**_Present Day_ **

"So, think they noticed us?" Tony asked as HYDRA agents shot at them.

"No, Stark, I'm pretty sure they've got no idea we're here," Steve said.

"Where did Captain America learn sarcasm?"

"Your father."

"Yeah, but you actually knew my father, so is that-"

"Will you two stop?" Natasha asked. "Behind you, Laurel."

"Thanks."

A both of lightning shot past Natasha, hitting the ground and sending several HYDRA agents flying.

"Where did you learn to throw lightning?" Tony asked.

"Jay taught me, he's the Flash from the Earth in the next universe over."

"There's parallel worlds now?" Rhodey asked. "I blame you, Tony."

"What did I do?"

"The world got a lot more complicated after Iron Man."

"If you're going down that route, Steve started it."

"Thor came to Earth centuries ago," Steve said. "And Red Skull had the Tesseract before I got the serum."

"Plus there was Wasp in the eighties," Natasha said. "And Ant-Man. The world's always been complicated. Now it's just publicly complicated. How's that shield coming?"

"I just need to borrow this," Tony said. "Thank you." An explosion ricocheted through the forest. "Shields are down."

Something shot past Natasha.

"Barry, I hope that was you."

"Er. The only other speedster I know is… You know like I have yellow Speed Force when I run, theirs wasn't blue, was it?"

"More like a blue grey blur," Thea said. "I can't see any Speed Force. I've got one of Clint's exploding arrows here, maybe if I-" Thea flew out of sight, the blur hurtling past her.

"Thea?" Sam asked. "Anyone see her?"

"Ow. I'm fine. Don't tell Ollie."

"Barry, I think you've got this one," Steve said. "Tony?"

"I have eyes on the sceptre and- woah."

"Tony? Tony."

"I'm fine, Cap, I'm fine. Just-"

"Something's shaken you."

"Just, I'm fine."

"It's happening again, isn't it?" Rhodey asked.

"There's stuff from New York down here. One of those giant things that ate me. Rhodey, I can't-"

"I'll be there in just a sec, Cap, you've got this?"

"Go. Hulk."

Hulk smashed through a turret, and HYDRA agents scattered.

"Think you can open the door for me?" Steve finished.

"Er, guys?" Barry said. "He doesn't have the speed force, he's not a metahuman. It's the thing that lets me run fast. There was a particle accelerator, everyone who had an accident at that time got superpowers instead of dying, I got struck by lightning, wait a second. I'll ask Cisco later. Have you heard of Central City?"

"Barry, you do know we're only getting half the conversation here," Laurel said.

"She's the one with red hair."

Natasha brought down another HYDRA agent, and a man appeared next to her.

"You are Natasha Romanoff?"

"Yes? Hey, let-"

Natasha found herself outside a locked room.

"I thought that would be less difficult," he said, hands on his knees. "You are heavier than I thought. This explodes?"

Natasha nodded as he held up one of the exploding arrows Clint had given Thea. He gave it to her.

"Stand back."

Natasha blew the hinges off the door.

"Hey, Nat. It's so good to see you."

* * *

"Tony?" Rhodey asked, taking his helmet off. The room looked like someone had raided the Battle of New York. They probably had.

Loki's sceptre was on a bench.

"Here." Tony was right in front of the sceptre.

"Hey. You okay?"

"I'm fine, Rhodey."

"Panic attack?"

"I've got it under control. Sceptre. Can you…"

"I've got it. You sure you're okay?"

"I can't do it."

"Can't what?"

"I can't protect everyone."

"You don't have to."

"I'm alive for a reason, Rhodey. I thought it was to be Iron Man, to protect people, but if I can't even do that…"

"Tony. You've protected enough people. You helped save New York."

"And what happens if they come back?"

"You don't have to protect the world on your own. We're here for you. I'm here for you. Always have been."

"Same here."

"Come on, let's go see where this other speedster came from."

* * *

"How's Laura?"

"Worried sick about you and heavily pregnant. What were you thinking?"

"You did see Pietro literally had to blow the door up, right? Hi Pietro. Thanks, though I'm beginning to wish you'd brought Steve instead. See, Pietro helped."

"I've been searching for you for four and a half months. I called May for help. We have Flash, Thea, and Laurel outside, and all of us. And you've been sitting in a room."

"Funny story there, I actually threw the sceptre's influence off, and then they tried to at least get information out of me, but I annoyed them, and then I met Wanda and Pietro. They're cool."

"They're not HYDRA."

"Never," the man said, clenching his fists.

"Great. Wanda's…"

"My twin sister."

"Hello." A girl waved from behind Clint.

"You can tell Steve HYDRA don't have a location on Bucky either," Clint said. "Or I assume they don't since they keep asking if I know where he is. Not sure how I'd know considering I've been stuck here."

"Your bow?"

"I never made it out the hall, I thought you had it. Did you lose my bow, Natasha-"

"You have more, come on. Steve." She spoke into her comms.

"Natasha. We've apprehended Strucker."

"I've got Clint. Meet you at the Quinjet."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home."

Laura spun round. Clint had a lopsided smile, and a black eye. He strode over in a couple of steps and Laura kissed him. He wasn't alone, most of the Avengers were there, and some people Laura didn't know.

Clint was home.

"Don't you ever do that again."

"I'll do my best." Clint crouched down. "So this is Baby. Hi Baby. I'm your dad. Sorry I'm late, but I found you an aunt and uncle to make up for it."

"We need middle names."

"Maria's nice." Clint stood up again.

"I thought you'd say that. Here. The scan."

"Oh. Okay. Well, I'll think of something."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. So much."

"Agent Barton," Nick said.

"Sir."

"Listen to your wife."

"Yes sir. Nick, this is Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, enhanced, Wanda, Pietro, this is Director Nick Fury of SHIELD."

"I'm not the director of anybody."

"Colonel Nick Fury then. And is that a Sharon Carter I see?"

"This is the second time I've done this, Barton."

"And I appreciate it greatly."

"Don't make it a third."

"No ma'am. Nat's outside," Clint said. Sharon glared. "I'll stop talking. Oh, Laura, this is Laurel and Thea, Laurel, Thea, this is Laura, my wife. She's the one who looked after Sara."

"It's lovely to meet you," Laurel said.

"And you," Laura said. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

* * *

"It's been a few months, Clint," a few of the parents at the school said.

"Yeah, I got held up at work."

"It's good to see you."

"You too."

Cooper had already found Lila by the time he appeared in the playground.

"Daddy!"

Lila jumped and Clint caught her, lifting her up so she could hang around his neck.

"Hey sweetheart."

"I missed you, Daddy."

"I missed you too, Lila. Hey Coop."

"Hi Dad." Cooper hugged him.

"How's school?"

"It's okay."

"There's some people at home you'll like."

* * *

"So this Speed Force allows you to run fast?" Pietro asked.

"You don't seem to have it," Barry said. "I wonder if that means you can't time travel."

"I'm just fast."

"How fast?"

* * *

"How do you cook for this many people?"

Laura smiled, and tapped the side of her nose. She handed a bowl to Tony.

"Come on, be honest, is it your super power?"

She laughed.

"I don't have superpowers. I had help."

"Clint cooks?"

"Frequently. Nick helped too."

"Natasha?"

"Natasha is not allowed near my kitchen," Clint said. He put another bowl on the table. "There you are, dear."

"Thank you. Your kitchen?"

"Our kitchen."

"Better. Last time didn't end so well."

"Will you two stop?" Natasha said. "Honestly, you set fire to one thing, barely, and they never let it go."

"Do you think we'll have enough?" Laura asked.

"I'm sure we'll have plenty," Clint smiled.

It was good to be home.

* * *

" **Pietro, you must slow down,** " Wanda said in Romani, laughing at her brother.

" **No, no, I must speed up, Barry says I can run with him to train**."

" **Train for what?** "

" **There are no Sokovian superheroes, Wanda, so perhaps we could be the first?** "

"Dinner's ready," Captain America said. "If the two of you are hungry."

Wanda followed him in. She sat at the table and Tony Stark sat next to her.

"Clint told me."

"You were the main weapons contractor. You did not drop that bomb."

"But I built it. Why were you being bombed?"

"Sokovia was part of Yugoslavia. Many countries had troubles after."

"I'm sorry."

"Dwelling on the past will not help us."

"If there's anything I can do-"

"Sokovia's problems are political. They must be solved by Sokovians."

" **Have you ever seen so much food, Wanda?** " Pietro spoke Romani again, and Wanda replied in kind.

" **Have you ever fed so many people, Pietro?** "

"How many languages do you speak, exactly?" Sam asked.

"A few," Wanda said.

"Our parents used Romani, German, and Yiddish at home, and where we lived Serbian was the most common language," Pietro said. "Our father started teaching us English, he had a friend who spent much of his life there, he went to Oxford, and some Hebrew."

"Wow," Sam said. Wanda blushed slightly.

"This is really good," Tony said, gesturing at his bowl. "What is it?"

"Soup," Clint said. Tony looked at him. "It's just tomato."

"Did you make it?"

"You can learn a lot undercover at a restaurant for three months," Nick said.

"You did undercover work."

"I've been in SHIELD longer than some of you have been alive."

"Since the eighties," Wanda said.

"Seventies. Transferred from the CIA."

"But you were in the army when Clint started."

"You told her?"

"She can read minds," Clint shrugged. "I showed her, we had a little Harry Potter moment. Well, kind of. Not really. I don't actually understand it, but to be honest I haven't really understood anything since about 2009. Possibly longer. Life's weird, it's easier to go with it."

"I can't be telling you all my secrets, Ms Maximoff. I have a reputation."

"Like not mentioning Coulson was alive," Tony said.

"We weren't sure the procedure would stick. It nearly didn't, did he go in to detail on how Skye came by her powers?"

"I was there," Barry said.

"But you weren't there in the months running up to it," Nick said.

"Did you sort their little problem?" Natasha asked.

"They're working together."

"I'm sure Laura used to have a rule about work at the table," Clint said. "Or was that just me?"

* * *

"I'm sure Asgard is more than capable of looking at the sceptre themselves," Steve said.

"I'd still like to take a look, see what Strucker was doing with it," Tony said.

"Three days," Thor said. "It seems reasonable, Steve."

"Don't do anything stupid. Or dangerous."

"When have I ever done anything stupid or dangerous?" Tony asked.

"Do you want the full list or just the times I was present?"

"Hypocrite. Hey, Bruce, we're going back to the lab, giving Mister and Missus Barton some space, you in?"

"Sure."

"There, see, supervision. Rhodey, are you-"

"I think I have a job to get back to."

"Tell them you're quitting to be an Avenger."

"No. I'll see you at some point."

"Nice meeting you," Steve said. "Sam?"

"We were in the middle of a different search."

"So we're all going our separate ways," Tony said.

"For now," Steve said. "Not forever."

"We can help you look for Bucky. We found Clint."

"It's different. If we need help, I'll call."

"I'm sure it'll only be a few weeks," Sam said. "Then the world will need the Avengers again."


	4. Without Limits

"I said a few weeks, not a few days," Sam said. "A few weeks."

"In my defence, this is the exact opposite of what I was going for," Tony said.

"You were trying to stop a war before it started," Steve said. "This is how they start."

"There's no point arguing about whose fault it is now," Sharon said. "We can do that after we stop the giant killer robot."

* * *

"Giant killer robot," Natasha said. "You are joking."

"Unfortunately not," Sharon said.

"Maria."

"It was a robot. It was tall. And it wants to kill all the Avengers, so giant killer robot sums it up quite well."

"We can't even have a week?"

"Villains don't take holidays," Sharon said. "Neither can we."

"I remember Rumlow taking three days leave at least twice."

"You know, a break would be nice," Maria said. "Maybe you can ask the robot nicely."

"I'll grab my suit."

* * *

Tony, Steve, Sam, Rhodey, Bruce, Thor, Sharon, and Maria were already sitting at a table when Natasha came in. Clint, Wanda, and Pietro weren't far behind her.

Natasha took her seat.

"No Star, Central, or SHIELD lot?"

"Coulson and Co are finishing off what they were dealing with before, there's something happening in Starling City again, and Barry's fighting a guy called Zoom," Steve said. "For now it's just us, but if we could deal with an alien invasion, we can do this."

"Yeah, evil robots, Maria summed it up," Clint said. "Evil robots with Loki's sceptre."

"Just one AI, actually," Tony said. "Ultron."

"Wasn't that Hank Pym's idea just before he quit SHIELD?" Sharon asked. "Ultron was supposed to act as a warning system, he didn't finish it because of what happened to Jan."

"It may have been inspired from those files," Tony said. "Apparently Strucker thought the sceptre might be the key to it."

"And?"

"And it must have been, since the sceptre seemed to have some kind of AI and it's now called Ultron."

"What does it want?" Natasha asked.

"Strucker's dead," Steve said. "The report came in. There's reports of metal men across the globe and we found this man in amongst Strucker's contacts."

"Who is he?"

"Ulyssus Klaw, arms dealer," Tony said. "We've met. I've already had this discussion with Steve. See this mark? He's been to Wakanda."

"Wakanda, that's…"

"East Africa. As far as I can remember it sits on the equator somewhere, it's above Kenya. There abouts. The Wakandans like keeping themselves to themselves. Good people, though. Just quite keen to avoid major conflicts, and it's not a big country. But it is the only country in the world where Vibranium can be found."

"What's Vibranium?" Wanda asked. Steve picked up his shield, putting it on the table.

"That is Vibranium. Strongest metal on Earth."

"I believe it's actually an alloy," Tony said. "Though I'm not sure of what, nor how it occurs, that sample was a gift given under the trust my father wouldn't go poking, so I'm honouring that. Also I think Steve would be cross if I stole part of his shield."

"Steve's shield doesn't seem to be radioactive, and there's no room on the periodic table for any unknown stable elements," Bruce said. "Either an alloy or an allotrope maybe, but unlikely. It only occurs in one place?"

"Could have crashed to Earth from space."

"What does Ultron want with it?" Clint asked.

"We have no idea," Tony said. "But he killed JARVIS."

"JARVIS?"

"He was in my system. Escaped through the internet. He destroyed JARVIS's code."

"If he's in the internet, what's to stop him taking an interest in other things?" Maria asked. "Weapons systems, satellites, worse."

"Basically, Tony accidentally made Skynet," Clint said. "So who are we?"

"What is this Skynet?" Thor asked.

"It's from a film, never mind. Ask Darcy later. Why do robots always take over in films?"

"Because they see everything about them becoming evil and decide to become evil," Natasha said. "It's a never ending cycle."

"Interesting theory."

"Nat, Tony, Thor, Pietro, Wanda, we'll head down to see Klaw," Steve said. "See if we can't intercept Ultron before he gets his hands on any Vibranium."

"And the rest of us?" Sharon asked.

"Rhodey, you said something about getting called in?"

"Maybe, I'll inform the Air Force what's going on."

"Maria, think you can get in touch with Fury?"

"You think he's got a plan for evil robots?"

"He's Nick Fury. Maybe inform the others what's going on. Sharon, Bruce, you're on standby in the jet."

"Sounds reasonable," Sharon said.

"And us?" Sam asked.

"Eyes in the sky. Maria, you've got Klaw's location?"

"Here."

"Then let's go."

* * *

"What happened in there?" Maria asked. She'd explained the situation to Nick. He had an idea, just needed to make a few phone calls. The Avengers had arrived back at the tower sooner than expected, looking a little worse for wear.

"I don't know," Clint said. "Sam and I went after the Vibranium, then Tony called us back. Said something about something being in their heads. I think Wanda might have been hit by something. Natasha was muttering about the Red Room. Sharon's with her."

"Ultron's plan?"

"We don't know," Sam said. "But whatever it is isn't good."

"Way to state the obvious," Clint said. Sam shot him a look.

"Extinct," Bruce mused.

"What about it?"

"That's what Ultron said. He wants to make the Avengers extinct. He wants to evolve."

"Helen Cho."

They looked over to where Rhodey had appeared, leaning against the door.

"She's a friend. Also a genius. I'll get Tony."

"He's-"

"Trust me, you'll want to see this."

* * *

"I hear you're having a little trouble with your newest invention."

"Nick, you're here," Tony said.

"Maria said you weren't doing so well."

"It's everyone else. Steve said it was like he was trapped in a nightmare."

"Loki's sceptre?"

"Maybe. Either that or he used it on Wanda. It all got jumbled. Ultron, he's got the Vibraium."

"You know, Tony, you don't have to carry the whole world on your shoulders."

"That's not what I'm trying to do. I just want to be outdated."

"You're not one of your inventions."

"They always were easier than people. I don't think Cap agrees."

"He's from a different time. Different circumstance."

"Tony."

"Rhodey." Tony relaxed slightly at the figure who was now in the doorway.

"Sir." Rhodey nodded at Nick. "Tone, we think Ultron's after Helen."

Tony swore.

* * *

Tony lifted up his shirt. Bruce stared.

"But there should be a hole."

"It's only the tissue, she doesn't have a way to recreate bone, so any missing are artificial plates."

"You had metal in your chest for years, there's not even scaring from the shrapnel."

"What can I say, Helen Cho's a genius."

"You've mentioned her before," Natasha said.

"Surprised Bruce hasn't met her, she's a geneticist."

"Helen Cho… I might have read a paper once."

"Helen found a way to synthesis tissue, speed up the regrowth," Rhodey said. "She designed it for cases like Tony's, to help speed up recovery of large injuries. There's limitations, like everything, and it's still in trial stages, but it's certainly very impressive. Ultron wants to evolve, Helen could build him a body."

"I thought Helen said she couldn't build a body," Tony said.

"Ultron is a machine," Wanda said. "Surely she would not have to build a full one."

"We need to find Doctor Cho," Steve said.

"Felicity picked up this," Maria said. "Someone is in the internet blocking Ultron."

"Ally or enemy?"

"We don't know."

"You got any contacts at the NEXUS?" Tony asked.

"Of course," Nick said.

"Great, I'm guessing Skye's busy, reckon Queen will let me steal Ms Smoak?"

"You're leaving?" Wanda asked.

"No. I'm going to a different place. The NEXUS is in Scandinavia, it'll let me find whoever's blocking Ultron."

"I saw something," Thor said. "On Klaw's boat. I need to find out what."

"Thor-"

"If what I saw was true, then this is bigger than you could ever imagine. There is a legend throughout the universe. Recent events would suggest it is not just a story."

"All right. Nick? You've got a plan for this already?"

"You. SHIELD as it was is gone. But there's you. The Avengers. Ready to stand and fight to defend the Earth, right to the end."

"Brilliant," Sam said. "But you never tell the other players about the ace up your sleeve."

"There is something left from SHIELD that might help. Colonel Rhodes, I might need to borrow you. Hill?"

"I'll call Coulson, let him know we're on our way," Maria said.

"We don't know how far Doctor Cho will have got with the process," Natasha said. She seemed better, but Sharon was still sitting very close. "I know someone who might be able to help. Bruce?"

"If I'm not needed elsewhere."

"Helen's lab is in Seoul," Rhodey said. "You'll know her when you see her, J- er, I'll find a picture."

"All right," Steve said. "Maximoffs, Sam, Sharon, we'll head to Seoul, Clint, we need a pilot."

"I can drop Rhodey, Nick, and Maria off wherever SHIELD is on the way through to the NEXUS and Felicity," Tony said. "Natasha?"

"My contact's not far, we'll make our own way."

* * *

Pietro zoomed through the barriers, with Wanda holding onto him tight. He put her down in Doctor Cho's lab.

Ultron was stood there, Doctor Cho standing over the machine, eyes glowing blue.

Pietro looked at her and Wanda nodded. He ran off, going back for Sharon and Steve.

Neither of them said anything as Ultron stepped round. Wanda glanced around for the sceptre.

She frowned at the machine in front of the doctor, then looked back up at Ultron.

"Why do you fight with him?" Ultron asked. Wanda took the opportunity to loose the control he had on Doctor Cho.

"Because when there are creatures like yourself in the world you take any help you can get to protect it."

"We could start again. Make a new world. A better one."

"By killing everyone?"

"You aren't here alone, Wanda. Do they still trust you?"

"Yes."

"So you haven't told them."

He turned to Doctor Cho and shook his head. He turned back to Wanda.

"You were stalling."

"My powers are rooted in minds, you will not find mine easy to control."

Something blasted out and hit Doctor Cho in the chest. Wanda ran to her side as two more Ultrons came to take the machine and the head one.

"Doctor Cho, can you hear me?"

"Go."

Wanda shook her head and pressed her jacket to Doctor Cho's chest.

The machine.

"Pietro!"

He ran to her side.

"The machine-"

"Ultron has it. She's hurt, we must find another."

"Captain?" Pietro spoke. The reply came through his ear piece.

"The two of you help Doctor Cho."

"Cap-"

"Stay in the sky, Barton. Find that Cradle."

"The stone. It will destroy the city," Doctor Cho said.

"Tell him everything," Wanda said. "I will find the machine."

* * *

Wanda helped Doctor Cho to the table she directed her to. She helped her lie down and pressed the buttons in the order Doctor Cho said. The wound began to heal.

She could hear snaps of Steve's conversation through her ear piece as she talked to Doctor Cho, keeping her focused. Pietro reappeared at her side.

"You're okay?"

"I'm fine. Doctor Cho not so much."

"We'll work this out."

* * *

"Helmet?"

"I'm not one of your kids, Barton," Sharon said. She picked one up.

"Sorry. Habit. It's not like Nat bothers in this kind of situation."

"Really? She left one out for me."

"Aww."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Someone's got to embarrass you kids. I've got a window. You're up, Agent 13."

"See you on the other side, Hawkeye."

Sharon dropped down onto the street, and Clint directed her to Steve. He was currently fighting Ultron on top of the trailer that contained the Cradle.

Sam swooped down. Steve grabbed his shield in the brief moment Ultron was distracted.

"Think you can distract the guards, Hawkeye?" Sam asked. "I'll get Agent 13 there."

"Let's see."

Clint swooped the Quinjet down, shooting the two guards inside the trailer. They flew out, straight at him, and Clint flew vertically up.

They followed, taking aim, and he spun the jet, hoping the two of them would collide with each other, going higher and higher. He could hear Steve calling for Wanda and Pietro over the comms, and Sam darting in amongst people, moving them.

The two guards dropped back down towards the Earth.

Clint spun the Quinjet. The trailer was airborne.

"I've got a clear shot."

"Er, I might be inside?"

"Sharon. Nat's going to kill me."

"Need a lift?" Sam asked.

"Focus on the train," Sharon said. "Clint?"

"You want to be quick," Clint said. "Ultron's coming up fast."

"Actually, I was thinking Matripoor."

"Be careful."

"Just catch the box, Hawkeye."

He spun, opening the back of the Quinjet as Sharon dropped the Cradle.

She jumped after it as it hit the Quinjet.

And Ultron caught her.

"Sharon, can you hear me? Sam!"

"I'm coming."

"Clint, get out of here," Steve said.

"Are you joking, I can't leave her, Nat will not be happy. Trip will not be happy. Peggy will probably find a way to come and yell at me. She's lost her comm, that was not the plan."

"What plan?"

Sam swore.

"Please don't leave. Please catch me too."

"What's going on up there?" Steve asked.

"My wing's been hit."

"I've got you," Clint said, angling the jet so Sam plummeted through, pulling up to level off before he hit the front. "Can you see her?"

"Ultron's got her."

"Both of you, get out of here now," Steve said. "Take the Cradle back to the Tower."

"And how are you three planning on getting back?"

"We'll call Hill. See how Doctor Cho is. Get out of here, Barton, that's a order."

"Yeah, well, I was a captain too, you don't outrank me," Clint grumbled as he shut the back. He readjusted the course. "I'm only doing this because Tony's probably got something that will help us find Sharon."

Sam took the seat next to him and gave him a look.

"He wasn't even supposed to be a captain, it was a stage name," Sam said. "If you really want to argue."

"He's Captain America, I'm not going to argue with him. If Ultron's got Sharon, they'll both be long gone."

The two of them headed back to Avengers Tower.

* * *

"Where's everyone else?" Tony asked. Several other people were in the room.

"Steve told us to leave," Sam said. "Helen Cho's alive but hurt, Sharon, well…"

"She did what?" Natasha asked.

"Remember Matripoor?" Clint asked. Natasha glared at him. "I told her it was a bad idea, and she was supposed to keep her comm."

"Find her. Now."

"Do you need a hand?"

"Oh, hi Felicity, it's fine, it's fine, she'll be using one of Peggy's old back channels, I know where to look. Er, hi, Clint Barton."

"Betty Ross."

"Nice to meet you, I've heard good things. There'll be time to get introduced after, I need to go find a friend." He ducked below to find the radio equipment Tony had there. Natasha followed him.

"Er, Ultron mucked up one of my wings so I'm going to go try and fix that," Sam said.

"Need any help?" Tony asked

"I think it's just a basic maintenance, nothing I haven't done before."

Sam darted off too, leaving Tony, Felicity, Bruce, and Betty.

"I guess we destroy it then," Bruce said.

"Or not."

"Tony."

"Look who Felicity and I found keeping Ultron out the net."

An orange glow came from the commuter.

"Hello, Doctor Banner."

"JARVIS?"

"We pieced him back together."

"It's like stopping Ultron is part of his code," Felicity said. "He's incredible."

"Thank you, Ms Smoak."

"You think putting JARVIS in there will override Ultron," Betty said.

"This is exact what went wrong the first time," Bruce said. "I'm caught in a time loop."

"No, you're not. This is how we fix it."

"It might work," Betty said.

"I believe it's worth a go," JARVIS said.

"I take it that means I'm outvoted. Where do we start?"

* * *

Steve stepped into the lab. Hill had dropped them off then disappeared off to find whatever this thing Fury had was, and they'd brought Doctor Cho with them. Steve hadn't been too sure on that, she had been injured, but she'd insisted. After all, it was her machine.

Wanda had exhausted herself stopping that train then trying to find Sharon. She hadn't had much luck.

Steve was not impressed when he found Tony, Bruce, and two ladies he didn't recognise standing over the Cradle.

He held onto his shield.

"You're all okay, that's good," Tony said. "Helen, good to see you. Do you know Doctor Ross?"

"We've met a few times. Good to see you, Betty."

"And you, Helen."

"Betty Ross?" Steve asked.

"You knew my great-aunt. It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain."

"Likewise. I- Tony, the machine. Turn it off."

"Can't do that, Captain."

Pietro ran round and unplugged it.

"It is not so hard."

"Power's lost."

"Tony, what are you doing?"

"You did it, Helen. You just needed a different operating system. Bruce, can you get it back online?"

"Give me-"

"Doctor Banner, stop helping him," Steve said. "Where's Sam?"

"Fixing his wings."

The window smashed and Thor flew in just as Pietro was about to run into Bruce.

Electricity crackled as he raised Mjolnir. Lighting struck the Cradle. Doctor Cho ran to a computer.

The lid flew off, the contents pushing forward, hitting Thor. The man, or maybe machine, flew at Thor, who threw him over his shoulder.

He stopped by the window, staring.

"We'll talk about this later," Steve said.

"I am sorry," the possible robot, possible man, android, that was the word, said. "That was odd."

"JARVIS?"

"I am not JARVIS. Neither am I Ultron. I am… I am his Vision. But I am not his."

"You don't understand," Wanda said. Wisps of red spun from her hands.

"Thor," Steve said.

"It is as I feared, that is the Mind Stone."

"That's what was in Loki's sceptre," Clint said, emerging from the stairs. Natasha wasn't far behind. He rubbed his chest. Steve guessed that's where the sceptre had touched him. "That's what…"

"The story states there are six Infinity Stones. Sometimes they are known as Infinity Gems. They were formed at the creation of the universe, and alone they contain immeasurable power, but between them? They have the power to bring about the end of the universe. They were separated, a long time ago. But four have been found in recent years. Someone is meddling."

"Four?"

"The Mind Stone. The Aether I believe to contain the Reality Stone. It was buried long ago, by my grandfather, where no one would find it."

"It was buried on Earth."

"No. Jane crossed between worlds. The convergence lessened the barriers between them and the Stone exaggerated that. The Tesseract, buried on Earth, and now in Asgard's vault, contains the Space Stone. At the other end of the galaxy there was an incident involving the Power Stone. Asgard had little to do with it, but after the Kree attacked the Collector, Sif returned to ensure the safety of the Aether."

"You gave it away?" Natasha asked.

"It is unwise to have two Infinity Stones so close together. The Power Stone is in the possession of the Nova Corp, Soul and Time are still unaccounted for as far as Asgard is aware."

"What's the Nova Corp?"

"They try and keep the peace in their part of the galaxy. They're based on Xandar."

"Red Skull held the Tesseract," Steve said. "I thought I dreamt it, the plane opened up, I saw, I don't know exactly, something. Stars, not ones I knew. A blue bolt took him up, I thought he'd disintegrated, but maybe he teleported?"

"Potentially," Thor said. "Though few can survive holding a stone."

"Jane did," Natasha said.

"Yes. Strange. There are a group of five who call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. Between them they too held a stone."

"Shouldn't we deal with Ultron first?" Bruce asked.

"We don't know where he is."

"Well, he's got Sharon in Sokovia," Clint said. "That seems like a good place to start."

"Then we should go," Vision said, handing Thor Mjolnir. The others blinked.

"Indeed," Thor said. "To Sokovia."

* * *

"Wanda?"

Pietro sat down next to her. He wrapped his arm around her and held her close.

"It's my fault."

"No."

"On the boat, Klaw's boat."

"Did he use the sceptre, Wanda?"

"I don't know. I don't remember, it was so fast. I was trying to stop the men but he was there and it hit Natasha and…"

"Hush, Wanda. It's all right."

He sat there for a while, not saying anything.

Pietro hummed, and Wanda smiled. Their mother had sung that song when they couldn't sleep.

"We must go," Pietro said, standing up. "The others will be waiting."

Wanda followed him to the jet. Clint was behind the controls. He looked like he'd just got off the phone.

Wanda didn't pay much attention during the journey to Sokovia. Ultron was attacking her home.

They would save it.

* * *

"Clint, Bruce, I want you back here in reserve."

"Really, you don't want Hulk's help with this."

"Yeah, fat chance, Cap. Laura sent me out here to protect the world."

"Your children need a father. They've only just got you back."

"My children need a safe world. They're not going to get that if Ultron destroys it. Someone needs to do this, Cap, and it's my job."

"And if you don't come back?"

"Then they will know it's because I was keeping them safe. I've had this conversation with Laura so many times, she always tells me she understands the risks and someone needs to save the world, might as well be me."

"We have no idea what's out there and you want to bench two of us?" Tony asked.

"Steve, I'm grateful for the concern, but you need Hulk," Bruce said.

"Someone stop arguing and come up with a plan before I pull a Steve and jump out this plane with only a one liner."

"Cheers Nat," Steve said.

"You're welcome. Plan?"

"I say we w-" Sam started before Steve interrupted.

"Sam, how many times?"

"Okay, so, Nat goes down to save Sharon, I'll go with Nat so I can give them a lift, Pietro, Wanda, kick off the evacuation, everyone else start evacuating, wait for Ultron to turn up and see what happens, there done, bye."

He dived out the Quinjet.

"Did you deliberately leave that open?" Natasha asked.

"Well you were talking about pulling a Steve," Clint said. "I think Sam's waiting for you."

Natasha nodded, and jumped after him.

"She didn't have a parachute," Steve said.

"She's fine, she's got a Sam. Wanda, I think I need directions."

* * *

They landed in the middle of Sokovia and Pietro headed straight for the police. Hopefully they would help coordinate the evacuation. The others all took their places, with Tony heading to find Ultron.

Wanda stood at a crossroads near the city centre. She concentrated, focusing on sending a message to everyone that they had to leave.

She could hear Natasha and Sharon arguing over the comms and Sam trying to convince them to let him take off.

The ground shook.

"So I found out what the Vibrainium is for?" Tony said. "The city is flying."

* * *

Maria Hill hung up the phone.

"Clint says Sokovia is in the air."

"Literally?" Rhodey asked.

"Sounds like it."

"Life used to be so much simpler."

"At least we've got a Helicarrier," Nick said.

"Sir?"

"Rhodes, did you meet any of Clint's friends in Star City?"

"Only Laurel and Thea. I can find them though, probably."

"If you head to Coulson I can go to Central," Maria said. "Give it ten minutes everyone in the world will be watching this, they'll know."

"Five," Nick said.

* * *

Maria kept a radio on in the Quinjet. Perhaps media coverage of what was happening wasn't the most accurate, especially since there wasn't anyone up there, but it was better than radio silence.

At least if they were still fighting they were still alive.

Laura was probably sat at home watching this. Maybe she should drop some of Barry Allen's friends off in Iowa to keep an eye on her. Sharon had sat with her during New York, partly because they weren't sure if Loki would target her and the kids, and partly to help Laura.

Maria knew there was a third reason, but none of them had talked about it. The WSC had wanted the DEO involved, aliens were their specialty, but Nick had argued against it. SHIELD had more resources, he'd said. SHIELD were the one whose agents Loki had taken.

And now SHIELD was gone. Maria couldn't even get a transfer back to the army because she'd been affiliated with them and they weren't taking anyone in case they were HYDRA. She kept an ear to the ground though, she knew Thaddeus Ross was beginning to put forward a proposition to police the Avengers and everyone else with powers. It was probably a play at getting his hands on Bruce Banner again. Considering his daughter was currently at Avengers Tower along with Doctor Cho and Ms Smoak, who knows what he would say.

Hopefully Mr Allen would notice her landing a plane outside STAR Labs and come running.

"Can we help you?"

"Doctor Snow?"

"Yes?"

"My name is Maria Hill, I'm the ex-Assistant Director of SHIELD. I trust you've heard about Sokovia?"

"The news said it's flying."

"Yes. Is Mr Allen available?"

"Do you work with Coulson?"

"And the Avengers. I work for Nick Fury."

"Oh."

* * *

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get a whole lot better."

"No, it's hidden behind a giant ship now, you're ruining it, Nick."

"Barton, we're leaving you behind."

"Yes sir."

"Good to see you, Nick," Steve said. "Rhodey there?"

"Afternoon, Cap. We brought company."

"Deploy lifeboats," Nick said. Four platforms shot out the side of the Helicarrier, hovering over to the edge of the city. A red blur shot off one, followed by five others.

"Captain."

"You must be Mr Queen and Mr Diggle. Laurel, Thea."

"Ah, my apprentice has joined me after all," Natasha said.

"Captain America, sir."

"Skye. You're in control?"

"Probably. More or less."

"Got a plan, Steve?" Natasha asked.

"Rhodey, make sure none of them leave the city."

"Yes, Cap."

"The rest of you get these lifeboats loaded up. Do not let Ultron get to that drill."

* * *

Pietro fell.

Steve paused as he collapsed. Barry skidded to a stop next to him. Natasha was holding onto a small boy behind a car that hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

Clint was shaking, Natasha frozen, and Steve felt sick.

Pietro was a kid.

"Nat, Nat, look at me," Clint was saying.

Steve shook his head, trying to pull himself together.

"Nat. Nat, you're okay."

"Pietro…"

"It's all right. You need to get out of here, Nat, or it was for nothing."

"I-"

"Natasha. Listen to me. Leave. We'll bring Pietro."

She nodded and headed over to the lifeboat. The boy ran to someone and Sharon took hold of Natasha.

"Barry, get back on the lifeboat. Steve, help me carry him. We're not leaving him here."

"Wanda-"

"We'll get her in a minute."

"He's a kid."

"I know. I know, Steve, please."

Steve picked up Pietro.

* * *

"Don't!" Skye yelled. Captain America backed back onto the lifeboat. Not really a boat, it was flying, but who was Skye to question SHIELD's naming.

She focused, aiming down.

"Is everyone off?"

"I will find Wanda," Vision said. Skye nodded.

"Jemma?"

"Yes?"

"You, Fitz, and Trip are on the Helicarrier, right?"

"We're here, Skye."

"Excellent. What do you think of Daisy Johnson?"

"It's a nice name. It suits you."

"Would you try and make an effort with Lincoln?"

"We'll find him. Make sure he's got somewhere to go."

"Thank you."

"Why does this sound like a goodbye?" Tony Stark asked.

"Watch this."

Daisy focused, channelling the vibrations around her, pushing them into the rock and amplifying them.

Her head was killing her; her nose was bleeding.

Sokovia started fracturing.

"Thor, now!" Stark yelled. The city gave way from under her and Skye plummeted.

Daisy Johnson. It was a nice name. It was a name two loving parents had given their daughter. Daisy.

She could get used to Daisy.

"Hey." The angel grabbed her. "Where do you think you're going?"

The sky stopped rushing past her and the angel clutched her close to his chest.

Okay, so angels probably didn't smell this bad, maybe she was alive.

Daisy refocused her eyes and they landed on the Helicarrier.

The angel smiled at her.

"You okay?"

"I know you."

"Skye!"

"Skye!"

FitzSimmons were the first two to jump on her.

"C'mon, you two, let her breathe, Quake here just saved the world."

"Trip."

"Hey. You okay?"

"My head is killing me. But I got saved by an angel, first time for everything."

"Skye, Daisy, that's Falcon."

She looked at him and nodded.

"You know, that makes much more sense."

"Sam Wilson."

"Daisy Johnson. I like that, I might keep it."

"It's your name," Fitz said. "Erm, you've got a little…"

"Medical, now," Simmons said. "Come on."

"I'm fine."

"You're not," Falcon said. "Are you a doctor?"

"With a specialty in biochemistry," Simmons said.

"I trained as a pararescue, I have some medical training if that helps."

"Huh. Can I hug you?" Daisy asked.

"Come on, let's find you somewhere more comfortable to lie down."

* * *

"Clint."

"Shush, Wanda, it's all right."

"Is he really…"

"I'm sorry, Wanda. You need to get some rest. There's a bed next to Natasha."

"It wasn't her fault. Pietro made his choice."

"Come on then."

* * *

"No, really, Green Arrow? I mean you're not even trying, are you. You're literally in a Robin Hood cosplay."

"I have missed you, Tony."

"I know sarcasm when I hear it, Queen. We're both different people now. You crashed into an island and lost all your money, I got kidnapped. There's a point, do you even have a job?"

"I'm running for mayor."

"All right. But seriously, you just added green to your name."

"At least I have a secret identity."

"Your early exploits don't exactly fit with what I believe in."

"Tony, you in here?"

"Rhodey! You remember Oliver Queen."

"You know I brought him here, don't you?"

"And you arrived just in time. We had it completely under control."

"I had to fish Thor out a lake."

"But he's alive."

"Pietro's not."

"What?" Tony's face fell.

"Pietro. There was a kid. Clint and Natasha both went to get him. Natasha got there first. Ultron was in the Quinjet, he was shooting, Pietro dragged a car in front of Nat and the kid, but not in front of himself."

"Where's Ultron?"

"Hulk jumped into the Quinjet. We don't know where he is, Vision took care of him."

"It's my fault." Tony sat down. Pietro… Wanda. She'd lost everyone now and it was on him again.

"You didn't know what Ultron would do," Rhodey said.

"How's Wanda?"

"She's okay. Clint's got her."

"Natasha?"

"With Sharon."

"Quinjet still in stealth mode?"

"Yes."

"I'll come and see if there's anything I can do."

* * *

"My head."

"Eat this. You're low on blood sugar."

"Er, thanks. You're, er, Falcon?"

"Sam Wilson. And you're Daisy Johnson. We actually met about ten minutes ago."

Daisy groaned. "I embarrassed myself, didn't I?"

"Well you were falling from a destroyed city which you helped destroy, it's understandable."

"Thanks for saving me. Wait, I helped destroy a city?"

* * *

"Sir."

"Agent Hill."

"Everyone except Doctor Banner is accounted for."

"Take her down, we need to drop the people of Sokovia off."

"They haven't got anywhere to go."

"I expect Mr Stark is coming up with a plan as we speak."

"Nick. Today…"

"We won, Maria. I'd say that was a success."

"An entire city was vaporised."

"The world is changing. Did Clint tell you about the Infinity Stones?"

"There's a storm brewing."

"We'll be there to face it when it does."

"Ross is going to use this to further his plan. He'll push SHIELD out, he'll push you out, and he'll tear them apart to get his own way. Perhaps it would be wise for Doctor Banner to remain hidden."

"Ask Thor if he can take him to Asgard."

"That might work. Are you going to tell them about Ross?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps he'll tell them first. Ross doesn't work in the shadows like HYDRA."

"So what now?"

"For the time being, we go home."

"You're leaving SHIELD in the hands of Coulson?"

"Hand. He'll do the right thing."

"These Inhumans. They're the ones the Index was created for. They're also the ones Peggy Carter and Janet Van Dyne suggested the Avengers for."

"You'll need to talk to Captain America about that."

"I'm sure they'll have a place for Skye at least."

"She's going by Daisy now."

"Daisy then. And Ant-Man?"

"Doctor Pym's too old to be doing that now."

"His daughter's not."

"We'll leave him to his own thing. He won't appreciate SHIELD getting involved."

"One last thing."

"Just one?"

"That timing was exceptional."

"I do my best."

* * *

"Nat?"

"Sharon."

"You okay?"

"Are you trying to get out of having that conversation?"

"Natasha, I was fine, I had everything under control. And you came to find me, I knew you would, my very own knight in shining armour."

"He could have killed you."

"There was no other way we'd find out where he was."

"We could have worked it out."

"By then it could have been too late. It's what Aunt Peggy would have done."

"You're not Peggy Carter. You're Sharon Carter. You're a different person. You could have stuck one of Clint's trackers on him."

"It worked."

"Don't do that again. I can't..."

"I can't promise. But I'll tell you first. Deal?"

"Deal."

"So. Are you okay? Clint said Pietro…"

"He died saving me."

"And a little boy. He's a hero."

"The boy would have been safe. I was holding him."

"I would have done the same thing."

* * *

Clint collapsed headfirst into the sofa. Laura rolled her eyes as he rolled over, shuffling up and resting his head on her stomach. She stroked his hair.

"You're going to get a kick in the head."

"I think I already have."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. But I've written everything down, unless the world is ending I am not to be called in for the next six months."

"It's good to have you home."

* * *

"You were right," Daisy said. Bobbi had flown a Quinjet down to STAR Labs to drop Barry off, and Cisco and Caitlin had met them outside.

"About what?" Cisco asked.

"I destroyed a city. Or, I helped."

"You almost died," Simmons said.

"Sam rescued me, I'm fine."

"Humph."

"Thanks for your help, Barry," Trip said.

"Anytime."

"Hopefully not. But if you ever need a hand with any particularly difficult metahumans, give us a call."

"I think you're expected to go and shout at your cousin," Fitz said.

"Sharon's fine, she's got in under control."

"FitzSimmons, Daisy, Trip, you done?" Bobbi asked.

"Just coming," Daisy said. "Probably see you at some point."

"Call if you ever need us," Barry said. "I'll be there in a flash."

* * *

Lila and Cooper were both at the table painting. Nick smiled as Lila held up her most recent picture.

The Avengers, complete with Pietro.

Wanda Maximoff was coping with the loss of her brother. Not well, she was angry, and distraught, but she was coping as well as to be expected. She was currently at the Tower with some of the others. Rogers and Wilson were both out looking for Barnes again, but most of the others were there.

The exception was Clint, who'd called Nick since "it's probably a tradition by now", and Natasha, who was on her way down, probably with Sharon. The two had been joined at the hip since Sokovia.

The door creaked open and Cooper and Lila both looked up.

"Dad!"

"Shhh. I both need you to be quiet, okay? Coop, you remember when Lila first came home?"

"No."

"You were quite little."

"I'll sort them out," Nick said. Clint nodded, heading out again.

He helped Laura through the door. There was a tiny bundle in her arms.

Cooper shuffled back in his seat and Laura knelt down.

"Make sure you keep his head up."

"He's small," Lila said.

"He is."

Clint stood next to Nick.

"Got yourself another godson?"

"You know more than one person now."

"Yeah. But still. You're the one I trust. If anything ever did happen…"

"You already know. Did you ever come up with a middle name?"

"Pietro. Nathaniel Pietro Barton."

"Have you told Wanda?"

"Not yet."

"You did good, kid."

"Not really a kid anymore, sir."

"He'd be proud of you."

"Barney? Nah, he'd be too busy teasing me about Laura and showing all the Avengers and everyone those pictures. Besides, it's not him I've to make proud anymore, is it? I mean, you should have heard how excited they were that Grandpa Nick was coming to visit, and that does sort of imply…"

"Don't start that again." Nick smiled.

"Would I ever, sir?"

"I am proud of all you kids, though."

"Thanks, Nick. When are you going back to SHIELD?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"The world's growing, Clint. I'm too old for this."

"You, never."

"You said that about Peggy once upon a time."

"Yeah. SHIELD's gone. There's a SHIELD, but it's not… It's not our SHIELD. Peggy's SHIELD. Your SHIELD. Metahumans, Inhumans, you know how we would have gone about this. But SHIELD's not there to do that. Coulson will help them, sure, and Daisy will take care of them."

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing."

"SHIELD being gone?"

"It's a fresh start. A new SHIELD for a new world. These kids have got it handled. I believe you have a son to fuss over?"

"Yeah. I do."

* * *

"Ready?" Daisy asked. They'd finished dealing with the Inhumans, even HYDRA had been keeping their heads down in the three months since Sokovia. FitzSimmons had been working on something with Cisco, but they hadn't said what, and that was on hold while Coulson asked Simmons to take a look at something.

Fitz nodded.

"You've got this."

She opened the door and Fitz smiled, heading in.

Daisy debated going to find Trip, but she had promised Fitz she'd help. There wasn't a lot else she needed to do. Maybe invite Lincoln to join SHIELD. Her mother and Gordon were both dead, and Afterlife destroyed.

The Inhumans didn't have a home anymore. Jiaying had taken it to an extreme, but look at Whitehall, List, Strucker, Centipede, Garrett, they were all HYDRA, but they'd all used people. Experimented on them. Her mother, Wanda, Mike, Akela. They weren't exactly the best examples of humans.

Maybe SHIELD could help the Inhumans. Lincoln knew the way they did things in Afterlife, and with SHIELD looking after them instead of sticking them in a file…

The door opened and Fitz stepped out, drawing Daisy out her thoughts. He was smiling.

"Okay?"

"Yes. Oh, I forgot-"

Fitz stepped back into the room.

"Jemma!"

Daisy threw open the door as the scream came and Fitz dived out of sight. She leapt in, grabbing hold of his ankle as he reached for Simmons.

That was the rock her mother had been after. Except it was liquid, spilling out the case, wrapping itself around Simmons' ankles. Fitz grabbed her hand, and Daisy tried to grab hold of something, but there was only the floor. She held tight to Fitz, her head pounding, and the rock closed in on them.


	5. Space Science

Daisy groaned, and sat up. Her head was killing her, again. She should never have left her van.

She looked over at where Fitz and Simmons were lying in the dirt.

On second thoughts, she was so glad she left her van. Not only did she complete her quest to find her parents, she had a name, a family, a home. And superpowers. This was more than little her could ever dream of.

Though little her may have been slightly put off being stranded in a rock. Daisy looked around. Completely barren, you'd expect that from a rock, but the stars were…

There were two moons.

Okay, maybe not stranded inside a rock. Just eaten by a rock and spat out to the other end of the galaxy. Or further.

Simmons groaned.

Daisy helped her up.

"You okay?"

"What happened?"

"I was going to ask you that, you're the genius."

"Air seems breathable, oxygenated, not too high a concentration of carbon dioxide or any poisonous gases, probably mostly nitrogen like our own." Simmons jumped. "Gravity a touch higher than normal, probably a larger planet. Barren, no noticeable plant growth, two moons, no sign of any water."

"If there's no plants, what are we going to eat?"

"There's no need to worry about starving to death, Daisy. Most people can last up to three weeks without food, you know, but only a hundred hours without water. We'll die of dehydration first."

"That is not comforting."

"Yes, I realise I didn't fully think that through. Fitz! Fitz, are you all right?"

"My head. Am I hallucinating?"

"We're really on an alien planet."

"Oh."

"With no food," Daisy said. "But that doesn't matter, because we're going to die of thirst first."

"I might have some biscuits in my pocket."

"We're saved."

"We'll be fine," Simmons said. "Coulson will call for help, and if Jane Foster can't figure this out, no one can."

* * *

"Maybe we should have saved those biscuits," Daisy said. "I'm hungry again."

Fitz nodded in agreement. The moons were in the same place in the sky, and the night seemed to have a blue glow. Maybe that was why nothing grew, no sun. No, the sun had to rise eventually.

It was impossible to tell how long it had been without the light, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours. Fitz and Simmons must have missed their dinner. Daisy was certainly missing hers. Her stomach rumbled.

"That's it," Simmons said, standing up. "We're going looking for water."

"What if they open the portal?" Fitz asked. Simmons pulled some rocks into an arrow and took off her necklace. She lay it next to them. "That's your grandmother's."

"We'll be back for it."

"Shouldn't one of us wait here?"

"We don't know how far we're going, or what's on this planet, it's safer to stick together."

"I'm with Simmons, we're staying together," Daisy said. "They'll find us, Fitz."

"Do you think Mum's all right?"

"She'll be fine," Simmons said. "We'll be back before she even knows you've gone."

* * *

Fitz stumbled. He fell to the ground. Simmons was at his side faster than she'd moved all day. He nodded, trying to say something, but it didn't seem to be working for him. Simmons brushed off his hands and helped him up. Daisy pulled one of his arms over her shoulder to help him balance.

They must be close to the full hundred hours Simmons said was the average time a person could go without water. They were all exhausted, Daisy's head felt like it might explode, and it was still dark. Fitz seemed to be the hardest hit. He'd given up trying to speak hours ago, and he'd been getting worse at walking. It reminded Daisy of when he first woke up. It must have reminded Simmons of that too, because she kept muttering under her breath.

"Just over this next ridge, Fitz. There'll be water just over this next ridge."

Daisy didn't know whether to be inspired by her optimism or infuriated. There wasn't water. They'd been there three days, there was no sign of water, no sign of life, and no sign of anyone looking for three missing SHIELD agents. But looking at Fitz being half dragged between them, Daisy could see why Simmons was pushing so hard.

She was almost here alone. If Fitz hadn't gone back in, if he hadn't called for help, Simmons could be stranded here on her own. Maybe Fitz would have been able to work out the portal, but maybe he wouldn't. Being stranded wasn't fun. But at least they were together.

"Is that…" Simmons trailed off, sitting Fitz down. "Stay with him," she told Daisy. She ran down the hill. Fitz looked up at Daisy, trying to pull himself up again.

"Jem… Je…"

"She's fine. She's okay."

Daisy sat down next to Fitz and regretted it. She wasn't sure she'd be able to stand up again.

Her eyes started to close. Sleep would be so nice right about now.

Simmons scrambled back up the hill, and held her cardigan above Fitz's head.

Water dropped out.

"Come on, Daisy, please, it's just at the bottom."

"I'll catch up later."

"No, you're coming now."

Simmons pulled her up, almost dragging her down the hill. Fitz was pretty much rolling at one point.

Daisy's hand touched water and she took a long drink.

Fitz smiled.

"Now you can sleep," Simmons said. Daisy nodded, falling backwards.

If Jemma Simmons could find water on a barren planet, maybe there was hope after all.

* * *

Or not.

Fitz held Daisy back as Jemma was dragged under water.

Jemma came up spluttering and pulled herself up on the side. The two of them rushed over to her.

"Are you okay?" Daisy asked.

"There's something in the water."

"Something that tried to eat you."

"We could eat it first."

"Yeah, okay."

"We don't know what it is," Fitz said. "It could drown you both. It could be poisonous."

"Honestly, right now I'm too hungry to care."

* * *

Jemma burped and Fitz laughed.

"This is the best thing I've ever had," Daisy said.

"That's because you haven't eaten for maybe four days," Simmons said. "Stop laughing, Fitz."

"We ate it and we're still alive," Daisy said. "When do you think they'll get here?"

The three of them fell back into silence. FitzSimmons were the scientists and they were the ones trapped on an alien planet with no equipment and far away from the rock.

"It's only a portal when it's a liquid," Fitz said. "All matter has four states."

"Solid, liquid, and gas," Daisy said.

"And plasma."

"The one thing I know and you have to one up me. Solids melt and become liquids. Except carbon dioxide."

"Sublimation," Jemma said.

"The particles vibrate more as you add heat," Fitz said.

"So if they heat the rock up-"

"-it might melt-"

"-become liquid-"

"-And open the portal."

"Except you don't know the melting point," Daisy said. "Maybe it won't melt with heat until the same temperature of the surface of the sun. Not that we have the rock. Can't you manipulate the vibrations without heating it?"

"You could," Jemma said. "But we don't have the rock, and we don't know what it would do to you."

"And the kinetic energy of the particles might become heat," Fitz said.

"So we're stuck," Daisy said.

"Something triggered the portal opening," Jemma said. "If we can work out what, we'll know when it will open again."

"I have a phone," Daisy said. "The battery might last a few days." Fitz raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Remind me to upgrade it when we get home."

"Ours will both last three months," Jemma said. "If we conserve battery life. Fitz improved them."

"Turning them on and off uses battery, and leaving it off for three months won't make it last," Daisy said. "That still leaves three months, not six. You might stretch it to four."

"I don't know about you," Fitz said. "But the reception here is simply awful, and as for the wi-fi…"

"No need to be sarcastic about it. Mine has a calculator."

"I think this situation calls less for Apple's newest app and more NASA's."

"There's more coding in a modern smartphone than there was in the Apollo rockets," Simmons said.

"Perhaps, but unlike the Apollo rockets, smartphones weren't designed to operate in space, and they had people at home they could reach."

"Know these things, do you?"

"I am a rocket scientist."

"Go on then, build us a rocket."

"Oh, yes, I'll just build us a rocket out of the rocks, with no way of knowing how far from home we are, even though man hasn't made it to Mars in manned missions yet."

"They are called rockets," Daisy joked, but Fitz and Simmons ignored her.

"That's right, you're completely useless in this situation."

"And I suppose your biochemistry and medicine are so much more useful."

"Find a way home!" Jemma slumped down and Fitz sat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "What good is any of it if we can't even find a way home?"

"They have Jane Foster at home. The Jane Foster! She literally wrote the book on portals. I've read it."

"I want the sun. Why is there no sun?"

"Maybe wherever we are has a synchronous rotation with its sun."

"It has a what?" Daisy asked.

"It's tidally locked," Jemma said. "Like the Moon is to Earth. The rotation and orbit of the Moon around the Earth mean that the Moon is always facing the same way in relation to the Earth."

"How do you know this isn't a moon?"

"It could be," Fitz said. "But they look like two moons, rather than a planet and another satellite."

"It's like Tatooine."

"Tatooine had two suns," Simmons said.

"But there's nothing here but rock and a thing in a hole that wants to eat us. It's totally Tatooine."

"I don't want to be on Tatooine. I want to be on Earth. Fitz and I have a date."

"Mum," Fitz said. "My Mum, someone's going to have to tell her."

"And Trip," Daisy said. "And Lincoln. I hope Trip's taking care of him. My mother killed Raina. It's weird. I know she was our enemy and she kidnapped Coulson that one time, but I kind of miss her. She was different on Afterlife. Could have got a whole redemption arc. And Cisco, I was going to ask him if he wanted to meet up for a Good Vibrations team up. We were going to go and find some bad guys who needed stopping, there's one like every Tuesday in Central, and now we know my city destroying was actually world saving-"

"And almost Daisy killing," Jemma said. "This is why you're the one with superpowers. You were already a hero. You just needed the super."

"We're still stuck here," Fitz said. "Let's sleep on it, that almost always works."

* * *

"Wait there," Jemma said. She headed into what looked like reeds, but if they had been, they were dead. Fitz and Daisy sat down.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

"We're going after her."

"Yeah," Daisy said.

The two of them headed in. There was what looked almost like a manhole on the floor. Daisy frowned and lifted it.

"Jemma?"

"Don't! Is there anything you can use to get me out?"

"Fitz, hold my legs."

Daisy reached down. Someone had built a cage at the bottom of the hole.

They weren't alone.

Fitz slipped and they both came tumbling down. Daisy just caught sight of the shadow of a man shutting the trap door.

Whoever they were, they weren't friendly.

* * *

He looked human. Though so did Asgardians, so that didn't necessarily mean he was.

Jemma watched him.

Fitz and Daisy were asleep. They'd decided having one person awake to keep watch was probably a good idea. Jemma had volunteered. It was her fault they were here, even if they insisted it wasn't. They'd run in to rescue her.

The man was watching her back. And Fitz and Daisy.

"What do you want?"

"You're real."

"Of course I'm real, why wouldn't I be?"

"This is Maveth. It plays tricks on you. But there's three of you. I've never seen three before."

"How long have you been here?"

"Not long enough to see a sunrise."

"What year was it?"

"2001."

"Two thousand and… You've been here since 2001?"

"What year is it?"

"2015."

"Fourteen years."

"I'm sorry. How did you get here, were you with SHIELD?"

"SHIELD?"

"That's who we work for."

"It's real?"

"Yes. Who did you work for?"

"NASA. I was a pilot for the Air Force, they recruited me for this mission."

"Are there others?"

"No. Not any more."

"I'm Jemma Simmons. That's Fitz and Daisy."

"Will."

"If NASA were studying the Monolith, do they know?"

"We were sent here to study the planet. They said they could bring us back in a year."

"And they didn't know how to bring you back?"

"No."

"NASA don't have Jane Foster," Fitz mumbled, stirring. Daisy blinked her eyes open too. "Or Erik Selvig. Or Thor and Sif. But mostly Doctor Foster."

"They have Doctor Banner too," Daisy said.

"He's not an astrophysicist, he's a nuclear physicist. With some biochemistry."

"What about you?"

"Mechanical engineering and aeronautics. Astrophysics is how space works, aeronautics is how to build rockets to get to space. Colonel Rhodes has a PhD in aeronautics."

"He could build a rocket to get to us."

"Only if you know where we are in space. We might not even be in the same galaxy. The stars looked different."

"We're not in the same position relative to them," Jemma said. "Of course they do. Fitz, the stars."

"The stars. The stars! Well, the moons."

"And if that's how it works-"

"All we need is to know when the moons make their cycle-"

"Fourteen years of data-"

"NASA must have equipment-"

"Yeah, they do this a lot," Daisy said. "You get used to it. Don't understand a word of it, but you get used to it. So, you're going to let us out, right?"

Will opened the door.

"You can't go out there."

"We need to," Jemma said. "We need to map the stars."

"It will kill you."

"The tentacle thing?" Daisy asked. "Because we ate that."

"No. It's what killed the planet."

"Of course there's a scary monster that probably wants to kill us, this is us we're talking about, we can't be stranded on a normal planet, we have to be stranded on a planet with the scary alien."

"It's real?" Jemma asked.

"You think I'm mad," Will said.

"There's scientific explanations for everything, and you have been alone for a long time."

"I'm not mad. I've seen it."

"Do you have a computer?" Daisy asked. "Because one of them might help."

* * *

Daisy's phone was already dead. She needed a Fitz battery.

It had died while she'd been looking at a picture. Barry had brought Cisco, Iris, and Caitlin up to the cabin. Zoom hadn't made an appearance that week, and they'd almost felt normal.

Just some friends hanging out in a cabin in the woods. No bad guys, no superpowers, no worries.

A few days later Gordon had shown up to take Daisy to Afterlife.

She wondered if Coulson would say anything. It seemed they couldn't go a week without someone in trouble (admittedly, Sharon's had been deliberate), but being eaten by a rock and ending up on another planet wasn't quite the same as kidnapped by HYDRA for information on Loki's sceptre. Or kidnapped by HYDRA for superpower reasons. Or kidnapped by a robot intentionally so they could trace where his evil plan was.

They did not live normal lives.

"Those two," Will said, sitting next to Daisy. They'd been with him for a few days now. "They're…"

"FitzSimmons," Daisy shrugged. "They've know each other for years, they were completely inseparable, but always adamant that that was it."

"Were?"

"We were a team. Us, Coulson, May, and Ward. But Ward betrayed us. He tried to kill them. Dropped them to the bottom of the sea in a pod. They got out, but Fitz has permanent damage, and Simmons blames herself, even though he forced her to take the oxygen and she saved him. They weren't quite the same after. She went undercover, and they were apart for at least a few months. They're getting used to accepting the change. Fitz asked Jemma on a date."

"A date?"

"She got eaten by a space rock instead, and Fitz only caught her because he went back to check something, and I grabbed hold of his ankle as he grabbed hold of her hand. It would have been a great rescue, if it had worked."

"Why were you there?"

"Fitz asked for help. They're my best friends. Them and Trip. Those three, Mack, Coulson, May, they're the closest thing I've got to a family. It's a long story."

"We have time."

"Will!" Jemma said. "What were the moons like when you came through? Was it as one was passing in front of the other?"

"Yes," Will said.

"Do you know how often they cycle?"

"Six months maybe."

"Oh."

"What is it?" Daisy asked.

"You know we talked about tidal locking?" Fitz asked. "The Moon causes the tides by it's gravitational pull."

"They cycle," Jemma said. "At home the tides vary depending on where in the country you are, but they're predictable. There's about twelve and a half hours between each tide."

"The Moon's gravity slightly deforms Earth," Fitz said. "Which, um, is a, er, how they work. There's moons."

"There's two moons," Jemma said. "And when they're in the same relative place, there's additional gravitational pull on the planet, which we believe is what triggers the portal. The rock on Earth is the other side of it."

"You came through in a different place to me," Will said. "I found your necklace."

"The planet rotates," Fitz said.

"I know this one," Daisy said. "One spin on the Earth's axis is one day, and we're at an angle, which is why we have seasons."

"The portal stays in the same position," Jemma said. "A fixed point in space. But the planet moves, which has the effect of the portal moving. So if we can map the stars-"

"We can determine the length of one rotation-" Fitz said.

"Combine that with the direction we know from where we came in compared to where Will came in-"

"And calculate where the next portal will appear."

"Great," Daisy said. "But why doesn't the portal move with the planet? And what about it's orbit?"

"Maybe it's not connected to the planet exactly?" Fitz said. "Hurricanes move in a straight line, but seem to curve because of the Earth's spin. It's called the Coriolis Effect. Maybe it's like a hurricane. Jupiter's Red Spot is a storm."

"It's maths," Jemma said. "We can do maths. Does this work?" She gestured at the old computer Will had brought when NASA sent him.

"We were sent with solar power," Will said. "But there's no sun."

"We've got two batteries," Fitz said.

"It's enough to get the data we need," Jemma said. "There's light in here."

"There's a luminescent substrata below us," Will said. "It's what keeps the planet warm."

"Solar power doesn't necessarily need sun," Fitz said. "It needs light. But they're, um-"

"Old panels," Jemma said. "The heat might damage them."

"I can try."

"And then you're writing a computer program?" Daisy asked. "Step aside, FitzSimmons, that's my thing."

* * *

They had mapped the portal. Complete with estimated times. Jemma had sketched it out, along with her star maps. The batteries were drained, but they still had the maps.

They even knew when the sun would rise, but hopefully they would be home by then.

Daisy hadn't worked out what she was going to do first. Hugs sounded like a good idea. Especially from Mack. Mack gave excellent hugs. Or maybe she should call Cisco, make sure she hadn't missed a team up.

A decent night's sleep in a warm bed would also be nice.

Will suggested shower. Fourteen years without one, Daisy could see the appeal.

Fitz had already decided the first thing was find a phone and call his mother. It was the second thing he couldn't decide on. On the one hand, fresh bread, still warm, sounded like the greatest idea ever, especially after months of nothing but tentacle thing (which was disgusting now she wasn't quite so hungry) and astronaut food. On the other hand, fresh cake with cream. And then he'd got distracted by memories of the bakery that he'd used to go to with his mum round the corner from where he grew up, and Daisy was fairly sure he'd be asking for a lift there and would buy everything they have.

Jemma definitely had the right idea.

She planned to eat in the shower and fall asleep while doing it.

Very efficient, Will had said.

They hadn't expected anything less.

Will and Fitz were back at base, and Daisy had followed Jemma out to get some more star maps.

Only there was a sword.

"Jemma," Daisy said. "Is this the No-Fly area?"

"Why?"

Daisy held up the sword. A black blur appeared on the horizon.

"We need to go."

"Just-"

"Jemma, please."

It was wearing a cloak. Black. Torn.

And it was watching them.

"Jemma."

Its face was hidden beneath the cloak. It was like something from a nightmare.

Sand was swirling around its feet, and Daisy grabbed hold of Jemma's hand.

Jemma tried to run, but Daisy was frozen.

It wanted her. It could free her. She wasn't in danger. She was special.

Hive could lead her.

"Daisy!"

And Jemma had taken the sword off her and was running, dragging Daisy along. They ran and ran, and Will and Fitz were there, and Jemma was bleeding, and-

And it was gone, that monster was gone, they were safe, it was gone.

Fitz was hugging her.

"What happened?" Jemma asked. "Daisy?"

"It was… I think it's an Inhuman. It's like it was talking to me."

"You're staying here then. Until the portal opens."

"But-"

"We don't know what it is, or what it will do with you. There's only two months till the portal opens."

"We'll be home soon," Fitz said.

* * *

There was a chasm between them and where the portal would appear.

And not then thirty foot one Will had promised.

"The planet doesn't want us to leave," Will said.

"That's ridiculous," Jemma said. "We're going home. Pass me the bottle."

"Wouldn't, um, wouldn't Will be more likely to hit it?" Fitz asked.

"You want me to fire the bottle into the portal?" Will asked.

"We can't get over there," Daisy said. "But we might get the bottle over."

"If we send copies of the star maps, they might be able to work out where we are," Jemma said. "And they'll know we're alive."

Will nodded and aimed.

The portal opened.

Home was so close.

And yet so far.

Daisy want to scream. It wasn't _fair_. They just wanted to go home. Why couldn't they go home?

She just wanted to go home.

She shivered. Why would she leave when-

"He's here."

"Daisy?"

"Him- Hive- He's-"

The black cloak was billowing behind him. Jemma had brought the sword with her, and stepped in front of her.

He was too far away, and Will aimed.

The bottle vanished.

"Run," he said.

And they ran.

* * *

"We'll get another chance," Daisy said. No one had said much of anything when they got back to the cave. They'd been so close. "Right? We just need to wait."

"For another six months," Jemma said. "It'll be a year before we get home. Fifteen years for Will. That's if we don't miss it again."

"Do you think Coulson's told my mum?" Fitz asked. "We're the only family we've got, and for all she knows, I'm dead."

"You'll see her again," Will said.

"What happened to the planet not wanting us to leave?"

"I've been here a long time. I never found my way home. But you did. We almost made it. You can try again."

"We'll get home, Fitz," Jemma said.

"What's your mum like?" Daisy asked.

"She's lovely," Fitz said. "My dad left, I don't really remember him, so growing up it was just Mum and me. She was a mechanic. She can fix anything, my mum. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up."

"It sounds nice."

"I'll introduce you when we get home."

"You can meet my parents too, if you want," Jemma said. "I haven't gone to see them since the virus."

"That's a long time, Jemma," Daisy said.

"I just didn't know what to say. And then more happened, and they did worry so when I said I was going into the field."

"They're supposed to. It's because they care."

"I had scoliosis when I was younger. I had surgery to correct it, it is fine, really, but I suppose my mother worried she'd be visiting me in a hospital bed again. I was in bed for a long time afterwards, and my father used to take me outside to look at the stars. That's when I fell in love with science."

"My father used to stargaze with me," Will said. "We built a telescope together one year. When NASA offered me the chance to go myself, how could I refuse?"

"They're sending people to Mars now," Fitz said.

"Things have changed."

"You'll catch up," Daisy said. "You've got a lot to catch up on. And a lot of pop culture."

"I still can't believe Captain America's alive."

"I know, we met him, he's great."

"Daisy helped him save the world," Fitz said.

"She nearly died," Jemma said.

"I'm fine, Jemma."

"I know. I just…"

"I think you take after your mum. You worry."

"It's because I care." She smiled at Daisy.

"And it wasn't New York that got destroyed this time," Fitz said. "We told you about Sokovia."

"Yeah," Will said. "Are they still destroying New York in all the disaster films?"

"Yes," Daisy said. "I think the Battle of New York just spurred them on."

"That was because Loki needed an energy source, and he was showing off," Fitz said.

"Not every disaster film is in New York," Jemma said. "There were loads of global disaster films in the run up to 2012."

"What happened in 2012?" Will asked.

"You know those end-of-the-world predictions that show up every few decades or so?" Daisy asked.

"There was one going round at the end of the millennia."

"There was one for the end of 2012, there was a lot of disaster movies, and a lot of conspiracy theories. Some of the movies involved conspiracy theories. Then New York and the Glades happened, and that spurred on both the movies and the conspiracy theorists."

"What conspiracies?" Fitz asked.

"Just the usual. Fakes and plots of various people, you know. Insurance scams to push up premiums. Nothing useful about SHIELD though."

"We were only Level 4," Jemma said. "We weren't even told Coulson had died until he told us he'd been brought back to life."

"No use asking you about the Gotham rumours then?"

"Which Gotham?" Fitz asked. He smiled, and Jemma and Daisy both laughed. Will looked confused. "No."

"You probably know more than us," Jemma said.

"Nothing about Metropolis either?" Daisy asked. They shook their heads. "We'll ask Coulson when we get back. In the mean time, we'll sit here in a hole in the ground and catch Will up on some of the more major happenings of the millennia."

"We could watch the sunrise," Fitz said. Will started.

"What?"

Fitz rifled through some of the papers they'd made when they were researching the orbit of the planet. He pointed and shrugged.

"It won't last long," he said.

"But there's a sun," Jemma said.

"Sunrise," Will said, softly.

* * *

They were sat a rocky outcrop, as high up as they could find without going into the No-Fly area.

Jemma and Fitz were holding hands. This worked for a date, Jemma had said. Even if Will and Daisy came too.

The sun was going to rise. At last, they would see the sun.

"Daisy!"

She frowned.

No one else had heard.

"Daisy!"

"Trip?"

"Daisy, what's going on?" Jemma asked.

"Listen."

"Daisy!"

"That's Trip. You heard that, right, you heard him?"

"Trip," Jemma said. "How?"

"Doctor Jane Foster," Fitz said. "Quick."

"We'll miss the sunrise."

"Earth has a sun," Will said. "One that rises every day."

The four of them sprinted.

"Daisy!"

"Trip! Trip, we're here!"

"Daisy! FitzSimmons!"

"Trip!"

"We can't hold the portal open!"

They ran harder.

And he was there. The monster. He was there, he wanted them, he-

"Go," Jemma said. "It wants you, go."

"I'll come back."

"I know."

She kept running. Will was hurrying Fitz and Simmons along. The portal was closing.

Daisy grabbed hold of the hand.

She had no idea where she was. It was old, that was about all she could tell. Old and smoking.

She didn't care.

Trip was there.

Trip was holding onto her, so tight she couldn't breathe. And May, May was hugging her, Mack, Bobbi, Hunter, Lincoln, Cisco-

"Jemma. Fitz, Will, we have to-"

"The equipment is broken," a lady Daisy didn't recognise said. "I'm sorry. We can't open it again."

"No, you don't understand, he wants me, he wants Inhumans, but he'll kill them, Jemma told me to go, Fitz slipped and-"

"Daisy," Coulson said. "Daisy, sorry, it's sealed."

"No. No, it isn't there must be, there must be…"

"What is it?" Mack asked.

"I can control vibrations."

"Daisy-"

"You don't understand, I can control vibrations. I can- I can control vibrations!"

Daisy focused. Trip already had a rope tied around his middle.

She concentrated, focusing all her energy on the stone.

It liquefied.

Trip jumped. The rope trailed through, and Daisy focused.

Her nose was bleeding, she was so tired, it would be so easy to just give up…

They needed her.

Her friends needed her.

There was a hand on her shoulder. Cisco. He was humming. She knew that song.

"You've got this, partner."

"Go on, Tremors," Mack said, putting his hand on her other shoulder. Daisy focused.

And the rock shattered.

Someone was screaming. Yelling, crying, and Daisy realised it was her.

Her legs buckled under her. Mack grabbed her before she hit the floor, holding her close. Her nose was still bleeding, and her head was throbbing, but it didn't matter, because she'd failed.

FitzSimmons, Will, Trip-

"Hey," the other person Daisy didn't know said. "Hey, something's moving."

Daisy chocked back a sob. She buried her face in Mack's shoulder.

People were saying something, something was happening, but Daisy-

"C'mon girl. You're not crying over us now, are you?"

They were there. They were real, they were there, they were alive, and on Earth.

Jemma and Fitz were both crying as much as Daisy. Holding her tight.

They were never letting go again.

* * *

The castle was in Gloucestershire. Trip and Bobbi had been tracing its history, and when their bottle had come through, they'd found Doctor Foster. Her friend and assistant, Darcy Lewis, had come too.

Will had been hurt in the fight with Hive. Badly. Bobbi was taking him to Doctor Cho. He'd be fine, she promised. Daisy promised to set him up an e-mail so they could stay in touch. He'd been offered a place in SHIELD, but after all that, Will just wanted something quiet. Away from things trying to kill him.

Daisy understood.

Quiet might be nice. But she'd turned her back on the chance for that probably as long ago as when she met Miles and joined the Rising Tide.

A weekend would be nice though. And they were in Gloucestershire. It would be so easy for FitzSimmons to go home.

Except they weren't, and Daisy didn't understand what was happening, except there'd been a fight.

They were back at the cabin with Cisco.

"What happened with Zoom?" Daisy asked.

"Jay lied to us, he was Zoom. Jay wasn't even his name. He's dead."

"And Barry?"

"Zoom killed his father. Took Caitlin prisoner at one point. Then Barry got dragged into other things. There was a fight."

"With Zoom?"

"With the Avengers. The UN wanted them to sign some accords. Put them under their control. Only they brought all of us into it to. Which is why I now work for SHIELD."

"Because of your vibes. Do I…"

"Coulson said SHIELD had a register before."

"They're bringing that back?"

"It got complicated. It was like a Civil War. The UN seemed fair. They wanted Avengers to ask before just bursting into a country. But then the Inhuman outbreak started, and someone brought up metahumans, and Bucky Barnes showed up, and it spiralled. Someone- almost certainly the American government- set up this thing called the ACTU, it aims to register all Inhumans and metahumans, but they started disappearing. And they wanted Wanda and Barry to sign up to it. They could have used the Accords to make them, so Captain America refused to sign. It got worse."

"The other Inhumans-"

"Lincoln's been helping SHIELD. Some crystals got into the water. I think Coulson sided with Captain Rogers."

"He used to be in charge of SHIELD's register."

"And then he met you," Fitz said.

"This would directly impact you," Jemma said.

"That's why we're here," Daisy said. "Because we haven't signed anything. What about everyone else?"

"Hawkeye retired," Cisco said. "They had that as the option. Sign, or retire. He said he'd spent enough time away from his family, and he wasn't getting involved in this mess unless Wanda needed him to."

"I take it she sided against."

"And Barry. They bonded, I think he reminds her of her brother."

"They trained together for a bit."

"SHIELD has a speedster now. Her name's Elena Rodriguez, I pretty sure she's as fast as Barry, but she's an Inhuman, not part of the Speed Force. Barry went in the Speed Force. Like I said, complicated."

"You miss seven months trying not to be killed by an evil alien, and this happens," Fitz said.

"Probably a good thing," Jemma said. "It sounds awful."

"Who sided against?" Daisy asked.

"Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Flash, Green Arrow, Spartan- that's Diggle's new name-, Red Arrow, Winter Soldier, and this guy Falcon knows called Ant-Man and his friend Wasp. Not the original. I think Agent 13 helped them," Cisco said.

"Diggle?"

"I think he was more thinking along the lines of Amanda Waller's ARGUS. For there was Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, Vision, Black Panther- King T'Challa of Wakanda, it's-"

"Complicated," Jemma said.

"Yeah. With Maria Hill, Black Canary, and Speedy."

"Laurel and Thea were for it?"

"Laurel's a lawyer. I guess she was trying to help get the legal draft for the compromise. Thea… She blames herself for Sara's death, even though she's alive again, and I think she thought it worked two ways, people could ask them for help, and they could ask for help too, so people like Damien Dark and Malcolm Meryln wouldn't get as far as they did, and the Glades wouldn't be destroyed a third time."

"Again?"

"Laurel almost died. They managed to get her to Helen Cho in time, but it was close."

"Black Widow and Sharon fought?" Jemma asked. "Wasn't Clint teasing them about each other?"

"It ended with most of them disappearing, Black Panther might have switched sides, no one's talking to each other. Barry went missing a few months ago, there was a fight at an airport and we think he almost got caught, and Wally's gone too, Iris's brother Wally, so I joined SHIELD before the ATCU could show up. Caitlin stayed with Joe and Iris. They said you were missing too. And Peggy Carter's getting worse. She asked to go to London."

"Peggy Carter?"

"Trip's grandmother," Daisy said. "No wonder he seemed distracted."

"So what do we do?" Jemma asked.

"We lay low," Daisy said. "Keep our heads down. Stay out the way. At least until the world needs us to save it."


	6. To Infinity and Beyond (i)

Once upon a time, Natasha Romanoff had cared for Nyssa al Ghul. But she was never like Nyssa. Nyssa was born into the League. She hadn't chosen the life of an assassin, it was what had been given to her. Natasha hadn't chosen this life either. She didn't remember when the Red Room found her, but she was a child, and they shaped her the way they wanted to shape her.

The difference was that Nyssa was utterly loyal to the League. She would always return.

Natasha had run.

Perhaps Nyssa had been the first in the chain of events, but Natasha knew she would have eventually run, whether she had met Nyssa or not. She would always have taken Clint Barton's hand when he offered it, and he would always offer it, because Clint Barton was a good man, who believed in choices and second chances.

That didn't make it easy to leave Nyssa. Even after SHIELD had given her a new life, she had missed Nyssa. Felt guilt for leaving her, and wondered if being an assassin for SHIELD was any better than being an assassin for the Red Room.

And then Clint Barton had taken her to the Academy.

Whispers followed Natasha everywhere at SHIELD. She was the Black Widow, of course they did. But the girl Hawkeye had plucked out of a class had no whispers.

She'd simply held her hand out to introduce herself, and flipped Natasha over her shoulder.

Sharon Carter fought dirty. She fought to win. And she fought like she had something to prove.

It was only later Natasha found out why.

She hadn't known who Natasha was either, she didn't have the clearance to know that the Black Widow had joined SHIELD. Clint and Melinda had set it up, to prove to both of them they were there on their own merits, not because of a name. They'd taught each other, and Sharon was the first person Natasha talked to about Nyssa.

Nyssa al Ghul was the first person who had cared for Natasha, and the first person Natasha had cared about. The first order Natasha had disobeyed, perhaps even the first person she had loved.

Clint Barton was her saviour. The man who had looked at the deadliest assassin in the world, a weapon, and seen a girl worth saving. The first person who she could trust with her life, and the first person who trusted her with his. He would eventually become one of her best friends.

But Sharon Carter was her first friend.

And now she was sat opposite her in an interrogation room.

I miss you, Natasha wanted to say.

I'm sorry.

I wish we could go back.

"How's your aunt?" she settled for.

"Old. No one lives forever, not even the great Peggy Carter. The doctors give her a few weeks. Have you seen Trip?"

"They managed to bring Daisy and FitzSimmons back from the other end of the galaxy. He'll be all right."

"You know why I did it, don't you, Nat? Why I helped them?"

"Yes. But this wasn't about registering powers, this was about the Sokovia Accords. People have a right to say no."

"It's such a mess, Nat."

"I know."

"I miss how it was before. Before Iron Man, before all of it. Back when it was you and me, Clint, Jasper, Phil, Melinda, Maria, and Nick."

"No aliens, no superheroes, no HYDRA, no Ross. Yeah. We can't go back, Sharon. That's not how time works."

Deep in the bowels of Asgard's vault, the Tesseract started to hum.

* * *

Jane Foster was halfway through her hopefully final read through of her résumé She'd been offered a teaching position at Culver, and it seemed interesting.

The air pressure suddenly dropped, and the room seemed to feel with static.

The weather forecast hadn't said anything about a storm, and the sky was still clear.

"Thor?"

No answer. Not him.

Jane frowned.

Perhaps it was time to call Doctor Cho.

* * *

The ATCU factory- and Daisy hated the word- was going up in flames. They'd made sure there weren't any Inhumans in there first.

Daisy had felt ill when she'd seen the boxes. Inhumans and metahumans alike, packaged away and frozen.

She just hoped she didn't see anyone from Afterlife, or Barry, in one.

Cisco held her hand as they ran. Back to the van, back to safety.

Elena was already there. Given the alias Slingshot (by Cisco), she could move incredibly quickly. Her powers were more in line with Quicksilvers, but she seemed faster, though she couldn't run as far (yet). Joey didn't have an alias yet, but he could melt metal. And he was bullet proof. They'd found that one out when he saved Daisy's life.

Cisco would come up with nicknames eventually.

And then there was Lincoln, their old friend. Sparkplug was another nickname of Mack's, but it seemed more like an alias than Mini Thor.

Together they were determined to rescue as many Inhumans and metahumans as they could from the ATCU. They'd left SHIELD a month ago to do it.

There were dangers people would use their powers for bad. Cisco had first hand experience. So had Daisy.

But there were also people who would use their powers for good, and people who didn't want this at all, they just wanted to live in peace.

And it wasn't fair to treat them all the same.

Joey was supposed to drive.

Except Vision was lying in the back of the van, eyes dull, and stone gone.

* * *

The Avengers facility was only occupied by Tony and Rhodey. Rhodey was practising getting back up on his feet after his broken back, but he was getting there.

It had got so out of hand.

A blast shot down from the sky, colours swirling.

"Call the others, FRIDAY," Tony said. "Thor's back. And just when the grass grew back."

* * *

"We can't just leave him," Daisy said.

"We can't exactly go back to SHIELD," Lincoln said. "After destroying an ATCU place we happened to find an Avenger who signed the Accords."

They stared. There wasn't much they could do with Vision. It wasn't like he was human and Lincoln could do anything.

"STAR Labs?" Cisco asked. "Caitlin might know what to do."

"Just away from here," Joey said. "Before whoever did that comes back.

They climbed in and Cisco gasped as he brushed against Vision.

He slumped down as Joey put his foot down, the others surrounding him. Daisy hugged him.

"What did you see?"

"The end of the world."

* * *

The chair had shielded the person from view, but they looked larger than a man. Larger than Thor. One hand glittered with what looked like a golden glove. The glove had six gems sitting on it, including the one that usually occupied Vision's forehead.

A portal, like the one in New York, was open over the Earth, and Chitauri poured through. Vision was lying beneath it. Iron Man was falling out the sky. Oliver Queen and Hawkeye were back to back, without arrows, Hawkeye with a purple mask pulled up over his face. A building was falling on Lincoln and Bruce Banner- Doctor Banner, not the Hulk. A woman in a cape flew past as Barry ran under her.

Mack craddled Elena in his lap, as she lay still.

Red streaked through the sky and everything flashed yellow

Cisco finished describing his vibe and Daisy hugged him. Elena was standing in shock.

"So Barry comes back from wherever he is," Daisy said. "That's good. And Doctor Banner. And from the sounds of it everyone stops arguing."

"And then we die," Lincoln said.

"Not necessarily."

"Mack is going to cradle Elena in his lap, and I'm going to meet Doctor Banner then probably be crushed by a falling building."

"It does not sound promising," Elena said.

"But we've got Helen Cho and her amazing machine," Daisy said. "You'll be fine."

"So why hadn't Doctor Banner changed?" Lincoln asked.

"Because he didn't need to?"

"Daisy," Cisco said. "I think I just saw the end of the world."

"Last time you saw me destroy a city, and it turned out doing so saved the world. I have just got back from seven months in space, I am not in a hurry for the world to end."

"I'd rather it didn't end either," Joey said. "I quite like living here. Space doesn't sound fun."

"It's not. There's evil aliens. Or maybe an Inhuman. Either way he looked like something out a horror film, I don't know, last time Fitz and I watched scary films I didn't sleep for days."

"I'm not going to sleep for days," Cisco said. "End of the world."

"So how do we stop it?" Joey asked.

"We can't. When I Vibe something, it happens."

"But you might have seen us stopping the end of the world. So, how do we stop it? What do we do?"

"Where do we take Vision?" Lincoln asked.

"We could just leave him?" Elena said. "And stay away from Iron Man." She muttered something in Spanish. Joey replied. Daisy really needed to learn. "Leave him somewhere they can find him."

"Not the Avengers facility," Daisy said. "We've been destroying ATCU facilities."

"But everyone against the Accords is laying low," Cisco said. "Even Oliver's left Star City. We don't know where anyone is."

"Metropolis?" Joey asked. "Or National City."

"There's not enough time for rumours," Lincoln said. "Vision's already missing his gem."

"If it helps," Daisy said. "I know where Hawkeye lives?"

* * *

Daisy got them there. She wasn't sure she was supposed to, but it was a bit of an emergency. Lincoln had tried to help Vision, but he didn't know where to start.

Elena sat next to her and didn't talk about Mack, or blood. Which seemed fair enough.

They took two days to get there, with Daisy and Joey alternating driving. Everyone tried to avoid looking at the very still Vision in the back.

They were all awake when Daisy drove them down the driveway.

It was very long, and a very poor road surface, but it was a farm in the middle of nowhere, and they probably didn't get many visitors.

Daisy stepped out. Hawkeye had only had two kids last time; she was sure of it. They might not have stayed long, but she remembered there were definitely two children, and his wife was pregnant. But there were two girls and a boy, all too old to have been born about a year ago.

The three of them looked at her.

"Sorry," Daisy said.

"You're Coulson favourite." Daisy turned and found herself looking down an arrow. Hawkeye. She gulped. "I am retired."

"You didn't sign the Accords."

"No," Hawkeye said. "Because I am retired. What do SHIELD want?"

"I'm not here with SHIELD. It's a long story. Have you heard about ATCU factories and places being destroyed?"

"Maybe."

"That was us. The last one we found Vision. He's lost his stone."

Hawkeye lowered the bow.

"Oh and the world might be ending. There's that too."

"I think you'd better come inside."

* * *

Laura Barton made lunch, and she was an incredible cook. It was the first home cooked meal Daisy had had in at least seven months, probably since Afterlife, and she was determined to savour every bite.

It was probably the best meal Daisy had ever had, and she had been saying that a lot recently, but this time she really meant it.

She told Laura so too.

"Honey, I made you an omelette."

Daisy looked down at her plate. Huh. It really was just an omelette and toast.

"It's a magnificent omelette," Daisy said. "The best omelette I have ever had."

"Coulson said you'd got home safe," Hawkeye said. "I assume that's why you're so appreciative of food."

"When you've live underground eating the occasional bit of fourteen year old astronaut food and a tentacle thing that tried to eat your friend first, every meal tastes good. I thought the tentacle tasted good, but Jemma said that was because we hadn't eaten for four days ish."

"He didn't say you'd run off again."

"The Accords are fine. The ATCU isn't."

"We're all Inhumans," Lincoln said. "Except Cisco."

"I'm a metahuman."

"One of you can see the future?"

"Me. It doesn't look good."

They told Hawkeye everything. From when Daisy got back, to leaving SHIELD, trying to stop the ACTU, finding Vision, and Cisco's vibe. He believed them too.

"These stones," Hawkeye said.

"I don't know what they are," Cisco said.

"Infinity Stones. Thor mentioned them. They wouldn't just destroy Earth; they'd destroy the universe."

"And we don't have Vision," Daisy said.

"Whoever was in the chair already has the stone. Maybe we should call in the Avengers."

"Aren't they supposed to be working with the ATCU?" Joey asked.

"Not all of them. Some of them are actively against." He was smirking, Daisy was sure of it.

"But the rest are in hiding."

"Oliver's probably on Lian Yu. It's where he always goes."

"He is not an Avenger," Elena said.

"He helped in Sokovia, Avenger or not. So did your friend here. She saved the world. If that's not qualified enough to be an Avenger, I don't know what is."

Daisy had run out of omelette. Which wasn't good because she needed a distraction. Hawkeye was an Avenger. A SHIELD agent trusted by Nick Fury. He was there at New York, he was the world's greatest marksman, he was a superhero.

And she was pretty sure he'd just called her one too.

He wasn't the first one. But Bobbi had been trying to make her feel better. Jemma was her friend, one of her best friends, she was biased.

Daisy had been calling them superpowers, but she hadn't been calling herself a superhero.

Hawkeye had just called her an Avenger.

"I'm, um, I'm not a superhero."

"You were ready to sacrifice yourself to save the world. Sounds like a superhero to me."

"But I'm not. I'm just Daisy. I'm not even a proper SHIELD agent any more. And you're Hawkeye. You helped stop Loki, you've saved the world loads of times, you're an Avenger, you're-"

"In way over my head?"

"You're Hawkeye."

"I'm a guy with a bow and arrow. That's it. I don't have superpowers. Just some fancy arrows, some designed by your friends FitzSimmons, and years of practise. That's it. I'm no different to Oliver Queen, or Thea Queen, or Roy Harper, but I've been practicing for longer. I'm not a superhero, Daisy, I'm just a man."

"But you save people. You saved people in New York, in Sokovia, other places too, you risked your own life to save other people, and the world, you…"

Hawkeye was smiling. Joey was too.

"I risked my life to save people and the world, didn't I?"

"Yes," Joey said.

"And I've got superpowers."

"Yes."

"Holy cow, I'm a superhero. That is both amazingly cool and amazingly terrifying."

"Sounds about right," Hawkeye said. "Quake. And the rest of you?"

"Can we try and avoid dying?" Lincoln asked.

Elena muttered something in Spanish. It sounded negative.

"There's more of a chance of living if we save the world," Joey said.

"We have these gifts for a reason," Elena said.

"And no idea what we're up against, other than they're powerful enough to collect all these Infinity Stones," Cisco said. "We don't even know if we can win."

"It's like I told Mike when we first met," Daisy said. "With great power comes a ton of weird crap you are not prepared to deal with. And we are not prepared at all."

"Well then, Avengers," Hawkeye said. "Time to save the world."

* * *

Everyone was settled in for the night. Little Cassie Lang was staying with Lila, while her mother, Maggie, and step-father, Jim, were in the room next door.

Laura had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on the families of the other Avengers. Sam's mother and siblings were worried about him, but Sam had been a pararescue, and he'd been in danger away from home before. Joe and Iris West were hoping Barry would come back, even if it meant hanging up his cowl, but they understood the threat the ATCU was to him. They missed him, but him being safe was the important thing, even if it meant staying away. Wally had disappeared too, and they were even more worried about him. He'd vanished about a month after Barry, and they didn't know why, or where he'd gone. Laura promised to keep an eye out for him.

Hank Pym had kicked them out the second Laura mentioned SHIELD.

Nick had told her about what had happened to Janet though, so maybe it was understandable.

Lyla Diggle and Sara seemed fine. Laura suspected Lyla was slightly misusing ARGUS resources, but that was her business. Thea Queen had Natasha. And Wanda had them to miss her.

Cassie Lang though, little Cassie, was too young to understand what had happened to her father and why he couldn't come home. He was a superhero, why did people want to arrest him again?

So Laura had offered her mother and step-father a spare room, and Lila had decided Cassie would be her friend.

Cooper was helping make sure Cassie was all right too. Clint always said he took after her, but Laura saw Clint. The way he was with Cassie was so like Clint was with Wanda.

And now with Daisy.

They only had one other spare room, but Daisy and her friends had insisted it was all right and they had sleeping bags.

Laura had made sure they'd had plenty to eat for dinner, especially after Daisy's tentacle story. She'd also headed up to bed early, hoping it would encourage them to get some sleep. They looked tired.

Clint was restless.

He was worried about Wanda. And Sharon, and Nat. Even if Nat had signed, she hadn't visited for months. She had her reasons. With all the monitoring, there was no guarantee the farm would stay off the grid. Laura wasn't entirely sure she cared any more, but it made Nat feel better. Not Clint though. He might be good at hiding it when the kids were around, but not when it was just them.

He felt guilty, because he hadn't been by Wanda's side, and then he felt guilty because that would have meant he'd been fighting Nat, he was worried about both of them, and the others, and he was scared something might happen to Cooper, Lila, and Nate too. And that added together and made him restless. Odd jobs around the farm weren't enough to keep his mind off it, he'd retired so there weren't any missions, and he was so conflicted about this one.

He was almost relieved. It was something to do. Maybe Cisco hadn't seen many of them in his vision, but enough for Clint to hope they'd reconcile. And then he felt guilty again because he said he was home this time, that he'd hung up his bow, but he was thinking about going out there again.

And he hadn't signed the Accords. Going out there could get him in trouble. Especially with four Inhumans and a metahuman, all apparently unregistered by the ATCU. He'd said he was home for good, but if this went wrong it could take him away for good.

"You should go," Laura said.

"What, now?"

"No. With the others."

"I'm supposed to be retired."

"It doesn't suit you. Maybe you'll run into Wanda, wherever you go."

"Maybe. You must be used to this feeling."

"No. I worry about you all the time. But I also know you couldn't do anything else."

"She called me a superhero, Laura. Me."

"I think Daisy felt exactly the same way about you calling her a superhero."

"I'm forty-five in a couple of months. Everything's been so full on ever since Oliver called, I haven't had a chance to think about it. I'm getting too old for this."

"I'm so glad. There were so many days I wasn't sure you'd be able to say that. But the world needs heroes. You and those five kids are what its got at the moment."

"One old man and five kids. This dude better start running."

"What will you do?"

"Track the Infinity Stones. Maybe I could talk to Selvig, he's researched them, unless Nick still has Bruce's equation on the Helicarrier. It worked for the Tesseract."

"What if they're not on Earth?"

"They will be soon enough. Or there'll be an invasion. We'll deal with whichever we see first."

"Do you think this is why you had that feeling yesterday?"

"Maybe. Maybe the Stone's still got some influence over me, I don't know."

"Talk to Selvig. I love you."

"I love you too. I'm coming home again, Laura."

"Last time you told me that, you went missing."

"But I came home again eventually. I'll always find you."

"We're not kids any more. We both know that things happen and you can't make those promises."

"I know."

"But you could get hit by a car tomorrow. No one lives forever."

"Imagine the overcrowding." Clint smiled. "I want to come back to them. They want a father who can be there."

"But they need a world. And you made your job saving it."

"I'd tell you this is the last mission, but I'm sure you'd believe me. In fact, I think you'd encourage it not to be."

"Someone will always come asking for help. And you're good at it. Clint…"

"Yes?"

"Promise me you'll try and come home?"

"I promise."

Laura leaned against him. From the sounds of it, it was going to be an early morning.

But she was happy just sitting with Clint.

* * *

Daisy had already managed to restart Bruce's equation and start scanning for the Stones by the time Clint had given Nate his breakfast. She'd ruled out the Americas, Oceania, and most of Asia.

The others had been thinking of a plan. Laura was packing up to take the Cassie home then take Vision to the Tower. Cisco hadn't mentioned where this invasion was going to be, but Clint had a feeling it wouldn't be far from the last. But they needed to get Vision somewhere, and Clint didn't know who was where.

Laura had set off after breakfast. Clint missed her already.

But the world needed saving.

"That's weird," Daisy said. "There's a signal that keeps showing up then disappearing again."

"I know someone," Clint said.

* * *

The crackling hadn't stopped, but the skies were clear, and Darcy couldn't feel anything.

It was like Jane was trapped in the second before a storm, and it was something to do with the Aether. She could feel it.

She needed to find Erik.

* * *

Clint hadn't been to London for a while, but Selvig was lecturing at the Royal Holloway in London, so they got to work.

Flying commercial to Heathrow was safer. Someone would notice the Quinjet, and they couldn't guarantee it would be someone on their side.

The only problem with that was passports. None of them had them. Daisy wasn't even sure she had a birth certificate.

They'd been overseas with SHIELD, so SHIELD would have sorted it, but that also meant all their documents were with SHIELD. And, old friends or not, Clint couldn't exactly call and ask for them. Daisy suggested asking Trip, but if someone found out, he'd be in trouble too.

They had two options.

Daisy and Cisco could forge them, or they could break in.

"You can't break into SHIELD," Joey said.

"I've done it before."

* * *

Clint never felt quite right without his bow, but he could hardly slide it in his hand luggage. He looked at his stealth suit, plain black, close fitting, and a mask that covered his whole head. Even his eyes didn't show, with yellow casing that doubled up as goggles for swimming. The last time he'd used it, he'd been breaking into SHIELD.

But that had been on Nick's orders. He'd been sent to break in to the Helicarrier while it was on the sea, and try and steal a file on the Avengers Initiative, to test the security. He'd nearly succeeded, but Natasha had a secret weapon.

Coulson's base was on land, and whether or not he agreed with them, he'd probably have to arrest Clint if he broke in.

He'd tried calling Natasha, but she hadn't answered. He'd left a message. Rhodey hadn't answered either.

He should just call Tony. But Tony would be obliged to tell the UN, then Ross would get involved, and then the ATCU would get involved, and the others were scared of them. They might be hiding it, pretending it was just anger, but Clint could see they were scared. And who wouldn't be. If they were caught, they could be forcibly frozen until someone found a way to reverse the effects of the Terrigen and particle accelerator. It wouldn't be up to them.

Clint understood, he really did. People had bad experiences with metahumans. And maybe some didn't want their powers. Cisco had told them his hadn't developed until he was killed in an alternate timeline before Barry travelled back in time. Only Lincoln had been prepared for exposure to the Terrigen, and he'd been scared. Both sides were.

They needed a middle ground.

"They're done," Daisy said. "The passports."

"Already?"

"Were you really going to break into SHIELD?"

"You were right, stealing your passports would have given them a lead." Clint shut the wardrobe and picked up his bag. "But I could have done it."

"Maybe prove it when you're not helping unregistered enhanced. Coulson wouldn't arrest us."

"But he can't be seen to be helping you either, and there's always the chance he's not alone. Come on, let's get to the airport."

* * *

"You're an unusual group," the security attendant said. "Work?"

"I'm just the responsible adult," Clint said. "My cousin here was talking about travelling with some friends round Europe, I've got a meeting in London, so we booked the same flight."

"Your cousin?"

"Adopted. She lost her parents, I lost my parents then my brother, Daisy here was all I had."

"I'm sorry."

"Doesn't matter. Are we clear to go through?"

"Aren't you Hawkeye?"

"No."

"All right."

Clint didn't sit still until they landed.

"Adopted cousin?" Lincoln asked.

"Coulson has said Daisy's the closest thing he had to a daughter, and he and Nick Fury were always close. My kids call Nick Grandpa Nick. He's always been there for me. Hence adopted cousin. You really did lose your parents, I really did lose my parents then my brother, it's barely a lie at all."

"You lost your brother?" Daisy asked.

"About thirteen years ago. He was in the FBI, he had a mission, and he didn't make it."

"I'm really sorry."

"Like I said, it was about thirteen years ago. Before Cooper was born. But he was there when I met Laura, when I got married, when I joined SHIELD, when I got promoted to captain. He was there. He had this envelope of all the pictures he'd managed to save from our childhood, you know one of the ones they used to put your pictures in after you got the film developed, there were some really awful ones in there. His favourite was one from when I was about fourteen, we'd just finished a show, so I still had my stage makeup on. Glitter and purple eyeshadow mostly. And it was so hot I'd my tunic off, so I was just wearing my tights. Circus ones, and they were very purple. I wasn't exactly spindly, but I'd just had a growth spurt, so I was really lanky, and I looked it. And there was this dog, I think it belonged to one of the clowns. It was a proper mutt, no one knew what it was, but it had so much hair, and it was a dog, I adored it. So there's me, in tights and makeup, looking pretty pathetic, sprawled out on the floor with a huge ball of fluff on me, me trying to get it away from my face, and Barney was laughing so hard the picture came out all shaky. I didn't even realise he had a camera, I had no idea this picture existed. One day I come home from leave, and walk in, planning to drop my stuff in Barney's spare room then go and surprise Laura because they were both expecting me the day after, and instead I find her sitting on the floor next to Barney, helping him move the pictures from the envelope to a proper album. Both of them were in stitches, and all Barney could do was hold up this photo. We spent the rest of the day moving the pictures, and there were so many more than I thought. He'd even managed to find one of my mother holding me when I was a baby, him trying to climb up on her lap so he could see. He must have gone home to get it, because I'd never seen a picture of her before, except the one in the newspaper. Laura said I looked like her, and we both had her eyes. She went to the kitchen to make coffee, and I turned to Barney and said 'she's it, isn't she' and he just smiled. He always said it was his favourite photo for three reasons. One, I looked ridiculous, two, he made Nick Fury laugh when he showed him, and three, that was the day I decided to ask Laura to marry me."

"That's sweet," Daisy said. "He sounds nice."

"We had our problems. I nearly didn't go with him to join the army. I was seconds away from missing the bus. But yeah, I miss him. I wish my kids could have met him. That's just not the way it turned out."

"I never had a brother," Daisy said. "Obviously. There was Matt though. He was at St Agnes with me. A few years older, but I'd been there since I was a baby, and I never stayed in the foster homes for long. That was SHIELD. Matt was nice though. Blind. He had an accident. But he could always tell it was me, even before I walked into a room. I think it was the footsteps. Last I heard Matt was trying to become a lawyer. Once this is over, I might try and find him."

" **My cousin was killed** ," Elena said, in Spanish. Joey translated for Daisy and Lincoln. " **We were trying to help people. SHIELD came. And Francisco didn't survive the police**."

" **Francisco?** " Cisco asked. " **Evil me went by Francisco instead of shortening it to Cisco. But he was a bad guy. So was that Dante. That's my brother. They might have been bad guys, but at least they got on enough that evil Dante tried to kill me in revenge for being kind of responsible for evil me's death. It was Zoom.** " Cisco switched back to English. "Evil me could manipulate vibrations enough to push people back, Daisy, kind of like you, I accidentally did it once with evil Laurel."

"I'll help you with that if you teach me Spanish. Were there evil everyones?"

"No, Joe was a jazz singer who died, he didn't like Barry, Iris was a detective, and Barry had the same job, except he was married to Iris and not a metahuman. They all acted different too. We didn't meet any of you."

"Evil me wouldn't be married to Laura," Clint said. "Because I'm not sure Laura could be evil, even in a parallel world."

"There was an evil Caitlin called Killer Frost and Leonard Snart was the mayor."

"This world sounds strange," Elena said.

"It was."

"Why don't you and your brother get on?" Daisy asked.

"He's the perfect son who could do no wrong. We've reconciled a bit. Maybe when we can go home I'll talk to him."

"Have you ever been to any other universes?" Lincoln asked.

"Barry, Caitlin, and I kind of stuck our heads in. I can open dimensional portals. This isn't actually Earth-1, it's I think Earth-2 Harry said it's Earth-12 thousand, something ridiculous like that, Earth-1 you lot don't exist. Or maybe you do, but there's no SHIELD, no Avengers, no Inhumans, so you'd all just be normal I guess. Lots of the stuff that happens here also happens there, but some of it's different. Like their Barry ran back in time to save his mum, but our Barry didn't because he got distracted by the Accords, and there's no Helen Cho, so their Laurel died, but they had their evil Earth-2 counterparts."

"I guess that makes the one with evil us Earth-12 thousand and one," Daisy said. "Imagine an evil me. I'd be invincible."

"If there's universe we don't exist, there's got to be universes you don't exist," Lincoln said.

"Probably."

"How come the one with just you gets to be Earth-1?" Daisy asked.

"Because Earth-2 Harry said it was the centre of the multiverse. He didn't realise there were this many Earths, he only knew fifty-two."

"Selvig's going to love you," Clint said. "Come on, let's find a train."

"You said the Royal Holloway?" Joey asked.

"Actually, I think we're going to need Jane Foster's mother's flat. This way."

* * *

Clint knocked, and Doctor Foster answered.

"I thought you were retired."

"I am. But the world's in danger."

"Because of the Infinity Stones."

"The Aether?"

"You better come in."

* * *

Doctor Foster made tea.

No one was quite sure where to start. Daisy pulled out her laptop.

"Here," she said. "That signal keeps disappearing."

"Because it's both there and not there," Doctor Foster- Jane- said. "That's Time."

"Clint said there were six?"

"I was only controlled by one, Doctor Foster had one inside her."

"There's been static everywhere for the past few days," she said. "Like there's a storm coming. Thor told me about the Stones after his vision, before he returned to Asgard. There's six, and they were forged at the dawn of the universe." She pulled out a notepad and pencil. "There's Mind, Reality, Soul, Time, Space, and Power. The Aether contains the Reality Stone, the Tesseract the Space Stone, Vision had the Mind Stone that was originally in Loki's sceptre, and the Power Stone was in an Orb with someone called the Nova Corp. The Soul Stone and the Time Stone were missing, but Thor had a feeling four of them showing up wasn't a coincidence. It's why he went back to Asgard."

"Well, someone's going to try and use them to destroy the world," Clint said. "They've already got the Mind Stone."

"Maybe more," Jane said. "If they took one from Visiom."

"There's two signals," Daisy said. "One's Time, and the other's in Antarctica."

"How do we find Time?" Joey asked. "If it keeps appearing and disappearing?"

"It's in its own dimension," Cisco said. "And I can open doors."

"We should leave it stuck," Elena said. "Then perhaps this being won't find it."

"Maybe," Selvig said. "Jane, Darcy, and I can go to Berlin, to check it. We can keep looking for the others as well."

"Thanks," Clint said. "We'll find Helen then head to Antarctica. It's happening again."

"Loki is dead. He can't control anyone."

"We should go," Daisy said. "Before anyone gets suspicious."

"I've got a phone number," Clint said. "I'll leave it for you."

* * *

They waited for another plane, to Seoul. Hopefully Laura would have been able to tell someone about Vision by now. The other Avengers would get involved.

"How do we get to Antarctica?" Lincoln asked.

"Have you got a Quinjet?" Daisy asked.

"I might be able to find something." Clint looked around the waiting area. Far too empty. "Something's wrong."

He stood up, just as the door closed behind Thaddeus Ross.

"Hawkeye."

"I'm retired."

"Agent Barton."

"Still retired."

"Captain Barton."

"Been retired from that for nearly eighteen years."

"I've seen your record. You were a good soldier."

"I was a better agent."

"I also saw the reason you were discharged."

"I was framed, and all the charges against me were dropped."

"Perhaps I should rephrase that, the reason you requested to be discharged."

"I met a girl, fell in love, and wanted to be with her. Your point is?"

"Is she why you refused to sign the Accords?"

"No, she's the reason I took the option to retire instead of running off with Captain America. I'm retired, Ross, I'm not signing your bit of paper."

"What are you doing in London?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"We heard your little story at the airport, about your cousin."

"So you know why I'm here."

"Except both your parents were only children, and all the passports aside from your own were forged. Ms Johnson's work, I presume."

"I said adopted cousin, didn't I? As in Daisy here's Coulson favourite, as good as his daughter in his own words, and I'm one of Nick Fury's strays. That's as close to a cousin you get without it being written down on your bit of paper."

"But it's not written on a bit of paper, is it?"

"That's because Nick wasn't informed of the situation. By the time he was made Director and had access to the file of one Mary Sue Poots, she'd aged out the care system and disappeared."

"And what would have happened if that hadn't been the case?"

"Depends. Maybe Phil would have done something. Maybe Melinda and Andrew, May said that they didn't have plans, they both had work, and it wasn't the right job to raise a child with. But maybe if Daisy was already late teens and able to look after herself it would have been different. Nick, I don't know if he would have had the time, but if he was the option, he would have made time. Nat and Maria probably would have been too close in age, and Maria was very focused on her work, and Nat well, actually, Nat wouldn't have been in SHIELD and trusted enough until right at the end, and she would have had too many doubts. Jasper, Jasper was only two years younger than me, but he probably wouldn't. Didn't see himself as cut out for parenting. He was good with my kids, back when we were all a team, but yeah. Maybe not Jasper."

"Jasper Sitwell was HYDRA," Ross said.

"Yeah, looks that way. I hope there's something else to that story, maybe he was brainwashed, anything, but he's dead now. And he never told them about my family. He kept that one most important thing secret. The last option for Daisy would have been me. I spent time in care. I had Laura, no Cooper yet, but we were talking about having children three years before Laura got pregnant. And we lived in a safehouse, so whoever they were trying to keep Daisy safe from wouldn't have been able to find her. If they did, I was a SHIELD agent. So there you go, sir, if Nick had found out sooner you would be looking at that sheet of paper."

"Why are you in London, Barton?"

"Because the other day I had this terrible feeling, and I needed to check something. Doctor Selvig had the same feeling, and Doctor Foster's been feeling awful for the past few days. I need to check on Helen Cho, because if all four of us have this, then its the Stones and the world is in danger. When I know, I'll call Tony. I already tried to call Nat, she didn't answer the phone. Look, sir, I'm just trying to check on them, make sure they're all right."

"With five unregistered enhanced."

"The ATCU is not part of the Accords. You all spun it to look that way, but the Accords only stated the Avengers would have to seek permission from each country, have to abide by the UN's laws, and that Wanda would remain in custody until the extent of her powers were known. The ATCU itself only operates in the US, the UK hasn't signed up for it, and as none of them were named Avengers on your bit of paper, they're not breaking any laws."

"You think you're so clever, don't you, Barton?"

"It's so useful to act stupid. Everyone underestimates you. People don't see you as a threat if they think they're smarter than you. I'd say you should try it sometimes, but maybe not in your position." Clint sat back down and crossed his legs. Ross frowned. "Batchelor's degree in mathematics, me."

"Is that how you can work out those angles?"

"Other way around. I've been shooting since I was nine, sir, I've had plenty of time to perfect it."

"What are you doing?"

"Answering your questions, sir, I've got nothing to hide, I'm not breaking any laws. I don't even have my bow. I'm just checking on some old friends, seeing how they are. Last I checked that wasn't illegal. I even used my real passport with my full name. I'm not hiding anything, Ross. You think the Accords are there to make us responsible for our actions. And it seems very hypocritical of you to be lecturing others on responsibility when you blamed Harlem on Bruce instead of taking it yourself."

"Barton, you're under arrest."

"I haven't done anything."

"And your five friends here."

"Let me just go and call my lawyer."

"Your lawyer."

"Yeah, Jennifer Walters, she's lovely, Bruce put me in touch with her after New York, just in case. She'll happily represent all of us."

"You don't get a lawyer, Barton."

"And yet I'm the one breaking the law."

"Arrest them."

* * *

"That could have gone better," Daisy said.

Clint looked up at the cell's ceiling. The Raft. They were in the _Raft_. He really hated prison. And this time there was no Fury showing up in the nick of time.

There wasn't a way to break out. He'd looked. He'd broken out of prisons before. For SHIELD. But this…

This was looking increasingly like it was the end of the line. Which meant, unless Laura, Selvig, and Jane managed to convince everyone they needed to stop it, this could be where he was going to spend the run up to the apocalypse. Which was one of the more depressing thoughts he'd had recently.

Joey had already tried the hopeful "Cisco saw you in his vibe", but even Cisco admitted he hadn't actually seen Clint's face, just someone wearing his costume with a mask and red goggles on. It could be anyone. Kate was only nine, so he really hoped it wasn't her yet, but it could be Laura. Who knew exactly what the Time Stone did, it could be a grown up Nate. Clint really hoped not. And Nate was starting to get little wisps of red in his hair, Clint didn't know if they'd stay, but if grown up Nate had his Uncle Barney's hair, he wouldn't be surprised.

Nate wouldn't get a chance to grow up if they didn't get out. None of them would.

Everything ended. Clint knew that. SHIELD, the Avengers, the circus, Barney, but not the world. Not the world when his kids still needed it.

"Hey!" Clint yelled. "Hey, Ross! If we sign your bit of paper will you let us go?"

"What are you doing?" Lincoln asked.

"The world needs saving. My kids live on it."

"If we sign their bit of paper, the ACTU will find us," Elena said. "They will freeze us."

Daisy pulled at the power dampener round her neck.

"I don't think they're listening. If I could just…"

The Raft had been built to hold people like them. They had things to neutralise powers. Cisco had designed something similar once. Each cell had a sheet of glass behind the bars, and even if they managed to make it out, they were underwater. If they got to the control room and lifted it out the water, they were in the middle of the ocean.

They were trapped.

* * *

Cisco blamed himself. They found Hawkeye because of his vibe. They had been trying to save the world, and now they were going to die in Ross's Azkaban. At least there weren't actual dementors. Maybe they could offering Daisy's alien Inhuman the job.

There wasn't the ATCU either. They'd all been registered, but Ross wasn't in a hurry to hand them over.

Cisco had not slept well. The bed was more of a metal bench with two blankets, and that was it. The food was awful, and he could see Daisy trying to hide how much she was panicking about being trapped. She'd spent months underground with no way home.

She wasn't coping well with being trapped underwater with no way home.

Clint had tried yelling again, but no one was listening.

A red blur ran in.

"Barry?"

Yellow suit. Yellow suit, that was bad, the Reverse Flash had a yellow suit. Just when things couldn't get any worse, the Reverse Flash was back. Probably here to kill him again. Great. At least he'd miss the apocalypse.

No, Thawne had been stockier than this man. And the mask was wrong. It wasn't like Barry's, like Thawne's had been, it didn't cover the top of his head or his nose and mouth, and only the top of the suit was yellow.

Wait a second, Cisco knew that suit, he'd designed that suit. With Fitz and Simmons.

"Wally?"

"Hi."

"What the heck? Joe and Iris have been worried sick about you!"

"Yeah, it got complicated."

"Er, hi," Daisy said. "Not-Barry, have you got a way out of here?"

"Sort of?"

Wally phased through the door to Lincoln's cell and took off the power dampener.

"Now what?"

"You fry the circuits," Clint said. "It resets the system. And the doors open. Who else is in here?"

"Just you," Wally said. "We checked."

"Go on, Lincoln," Daisy said. "That seems like a design flaw."

"It's for if water gets in and the electrics short out, so they can evacuate," Clint said. "I saw the original plans."

Lincoln focused, and the room lit up blue.

The doors opened, and two more people ran in.

"Barry!"

"Cisco! Daisy, Sharon said you were eaten by a rock."

"Long story. Who'd your friend?"

"Kara. She flew us here. Long story. We should go."

Wally picked up Lincoln while Elena grabbed Joey and Kara picked up Daisy. Barry picked up Cisco.

"Guess I'll just walk then," Clint said. "Where's Pietro when you need him?"

"Aww, did you miss me, old man?"

"What the-"

Barry ran.

* * *

Clint flew them out, in a Quinjet. He followed Kara's directions. Daisy tested manipulating vibrations in the back, just to make sure she still could.

Clint landed them on a sheet of ice, and they followed Kara inside some sort of cave.

And then he yelled at Pietro.

"We thought you were dead. A year, you little twerp, we thought you were dead for a whole year, have you any idea what your sister's been going through?"

"I was dead."

"I saw you get shot! Even Helen Cho couldn't do anything. Helen, I need to find Helen. Tell you what, you can find Helen. And Wanda while you're at it."

"I was dead."

"What?"

"I remember Ultron. I remember falling and Wanda screaming. And then I woke up."

"You saw the airport fight on the news?" Barry asked.

"No, I missed it, I was stuck in space," Daisy said.

"There was a man, Zemo, trying to frame Sergeant Barnes so the Avengers would fight. Captain America was going to take Sergeant Barnes to stop him. It all culminated at an airport in Germany. Agent Carter wasn't there, but everyone else was, and we fought. Steve and Bucky got away, but Rhodey followed them, Sam followed him, and Rhodey got shot down. Ross's men started showing up, so Scott and Hope shrank down to stay with Wanda and I ran her out of there, then I came back for Oliver, then for Diggle. Sam was trying to help Rhodey, we nearly got away, but they had their own version of Cisco's cannon."

"Like the one Ward stole?" Daisy asked. Barry nodded.

"We ended up in the Raft. But then, about a month later, Wally and Kara showed up and got us out."

"I started feeling weird after Barry vanished," Wally said. "I couldn't tell anyone with the ATCU around, so I practiced running, and accidentally ran to National City. And passed out."

"You need to eat more to support your metabolism," Cisco said. "Barry did that too."

"He said. Kara found me and fed me. She's an alien."

"It's so cool," Barry said. "She's got a spaceship and a sister and two cousins, one adopted, and one biological, and she's from space."

"You're from space?" Cisco asked.

"That's generally what alien means," Clint said. "You discovered you could run fast and went to save Barry?"

"Yeah. Kara flew us into the Raft, following Ross, and we got him and Falcon out."

"Where is Sam? Is he all right?"

"He was going to find Steve," Barry said. "We went with Kara to her cousin's secret Antarctica base."

"His father sent it," Kara said. "Krypton, our home, was dying. My cousin and I were sent to Earth. He was adopted by one Earth family and I was adopted by another and we tried to be human."

"You were on the news," Cisco said. "Before the Accords. You saved a plane."

"My sister was on it."

"What was it Cat Grant called you?"

"Supergirl. My cousin and I would have helped, but the Accords happened and we both decided to lay low and avoid all acronymic agencies."

"So did we," Barry said. "Kara said we could hide here. It's easy for her to get back to National City each day. She's pretty quick, that Girl of Steel."

"Not quite as quick as you, Scarlet Speedster."

"Nor my side-kick here, one of the fastest men alive, Kid Flash."

"I'm not your side-kick, and I'm only three years younger than you."

"Dude," Cisco said. "You even came up with nicknames without me? I thought we were best friends."

"Sorry, Cisco," Barry said.

"Can you come up with a better name than Kid Flash?" Wally asked. "I'll take anything."

"Impulse? The Flash? The Flash: so fast he can be in two places at once, or maybe it's just two people."

"Can we share a name?"

"Can we get back to when Pietro showed up alive?" Clint asked.

"He just appeared," Barry said. "We were eating, and Pietro ran in and collapsed on the floor."

"The first thing I remember is those three standing over me," Pietro said. "I don't know what happened."

"The Stones," Clint said. "It's all the Stones."

"The Infinity Stones?" Kara asked. "This crashed to Earth a few months ago." She pulled out what must have been a small spaceship. That would have come in handy a few months ago. "It was from Krypton."

It opened and a glowing green stone was sat there. No larger than a plum stone, but there was something about it. Something pulling Daisy towards it. She wanted to reach out and touch.

Pietro closed the ship and Daisy blinked.

"This is Hive all over again," she said. "Only instead of an evil alien, it's yet another space rock. I hate space rocks. Why are there sentient rocks, Cisco? Why can't we live in the universe where we're just normal people who, I don't know, we all went to the same university or something, Clint can be the maths professor. Why can't we live in the college AU, Cisco, why do we have to live in the one with evil, sentient, space rocks?"

"Difficult as medical school was," Lincoln said. "It probably would be better than space rocks and the end of the world."

Elena said something in Spanish. Daisy managed to pick out "nonsense" and "Columbia"

"Now what?" Joey asked. "We found the stone."

"Now," Clint said. "We find Time."


	7. To Infinity and Beyond (ii)

"Wanda?"

"I'm fine. I could just feel that pull again."

Hope patted her shoulder. She wasn't sure how to help.

"It feels like Pietro."

"Get some sleep," Scott said. Hope wondered if that was the way he spoke to Cassie. Gentle. Calm. "We'll see if we can find Captain America in the morning."

"I need Pietro."

Maybe coming to Sokovia had been a bad idea. The forest next to the crater that had been Novi Grad was mostly deserted, but people were still laying flowers where the roads ended.

Wanda had lain one for her brother.

Hope didn't know what she was doing here. Falcon had shown up looking for Scott, apparently to ask for help and invite him to join the Avengers, and had explained. It wasn't about the Accords. Maybe a little bit about registration. But also there was a guy looking for the other Winter Soldiers, and he'd framed Sergeant Barnes so he could ask where they were.

Scott had gone, and Hope had gone with him. At the time, it sounded like the right thing to do. Now, she wasn't so sure.

She could have stayed at home.

Her mother wouldn't have.

"When I shrank that time," Scott said. "Through the molecules."

"Into the Quantum Realm," Hope said. "Which you said you couldn't remember."

"I couldn't. I just remember hearing Cassie, and changing the regulator."

"So why do you bring it up?"

"Wanda. She was talking about an island the other day. And I remembered something. There was one in the Quantum Realm. An island. There was a shadow behind it, huge, with wings."

"You think it was my mother?"

"Probably? I don't know who else it would be."

"Do we have two blue disks?"

"Why?"

"Why do you think, Scott?"

"It's dangerous."

"And she's my mother."

* * *

Natasha wasn't answering her phone.

Bruce remembered the equation he'd used to find the Tesseract, and they'd found two readings.

And one was in Berlin.

Where Natasha had been.

The CIA had arrested Sharon Carter for conspiring with Captain America. Natasha had flown over to talk to her.

They didn't know what had happened next.

Tony still seemed a little cross with Bruce for running off, but that didn't matter.

Bruce had been reading all the books the Asgardians had on the Infinity Stones, and he assumed the one where Nat was was Time, since the Tesseract was the Space Stone.

Asgard had had a break in. The Tesseract was gone. Thor didn't know how, but it was. He'd come to warn them that the Stones were dangerous and someone was looking for them.

There were two readings. One in Antarctica, and one where Nat was. The one in Antarctica was steady.

It would still be there when they found Nat.

Vision seemed to be looking for Wanda still, so Rhodey hoped he was the signal in Antarctica. What were the chances of there being three on Earth?

* * *

Every single time he wanted to hide, Oliver went back to Lian Yu. There was something about the place that drew him back. Laurel didn't quite understand it. Maybe because so much had happened there, he had a strong connection to the place.

Whatever his reason, Laurel left him there.

She understood why he wanted to stay in the shadows. That was where they fought where Starling- Star- needed them to fight.

But the world wasn't Star City, and whether Oliver liked it or not, they'd moved to the world stage the day he called in an Avenger. They weren't just backstreet vigilantes any more. They couldn't afford to be. New threats were springing up across the globe.

People were scared.

That's what it was about.

People were scared.

A year ago no one had heard of Sokovia. And then Ultron had lifted its capital out the ground, and no one could forget it. They'd seen SHIELD crash to the ground. There'd been the incident in Greenwich, what had happened with AIM a few Christmases ago, New York, everything from before New York too.

And then there was the Glades, the wormhole above Central, and now Inhumans popping up everywhere. They weren't separate things. Everything that had happened had happened after Tony Stark declared himself Iron Man. Perhaps that was just when people noticed them. But that wasn't how it seemed, and people were scared.

Laurel hadn't wanted to be one of their soldiers. But she understood not everyone wanted them there. And her job was understanding the law and how things worked. She might have been able to do something.

She hadn't been sure. She hadn't been sure at all. But she hadn't expected it to come to this.

Thea regretted it. She wished she was with Oliver. But she'd been angry they hadn't been able to help the Glades for a second time, and if there had been people maybe they would have been able to help. This had sounded like the start of that.

But she missed her brother.

Laurel missed Sara. She wondered if it would have gone differently if Sara had been there.

But Sara was off doing whatever it was Sara was doing on this mission, saving the universe, and she wasn't there. Laurel was proud, but she missed her.

Laurel and Thea hadn't signed anything. Not yet. The UN were drawing up a second draft after the explosion, and hadn't offered it to them yet.

They hadn't revealed their identities either, not publicly. Laurel was expecting that to be in the second draft.

Laurel and Thea were sort of looking for Oliver. They'd been tasked with finding him. But seeing as they were in Europe instead of Lian Yu, they weren't really looking for Oliver. Just wandering, trying to work out what to do.

Northern Italy didn't seem like the kind of place Oliver would hide at all. It didn't seem like the kind of place any of them would hide.

So the last thing Laurel expected when she walked into the hostel was Sam Wilson.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Hope?"

"I'm sure."

"It might not work," Wanda said. "But she's your family. You mustn't give up hope."

Hope nodded, and started shrinking.

* * *

"Erm."

"This is awkward," Wilson said. "So, I guess you're not here to arrest me?"

"We probably should," Laurel said.

"Or we could just pretend we didn't see each other."

"Is it just you?" Thea asked.

"Sorry. I was trying to find Steve, but we must keep missing each other. Sharon said he went to break us out, but Flash Point Two already did that, and I missed him by a few weeks after I found her. Don't tell anyone Sharon's been helping."

"Natasha went to talk to her," Laurel said. "The CIA arrested her for helping you."

"Oh. I should probably find her."

"And break her out?" Thea asked.

"Maybe."

"Where's everyone else?"

"I don't know. Last I saw, Barry was running everyone out. Then we got arrested."

"Oliver-"

"I'm sure he's fine, Thea."

"I should have stuck with him."

"He's your brother, you'll work it out."

They stood there for a few minutes.

"It's not that late," Sam said." And I haven't checked in yet. Could you two give me a lift to Berlin? I'll just grab my wings."

* * *

Daisy had pulled up the equation and the Stone seemed to be in Berlin, when it was in the present day anyway.

Clint was flying. Even Kara was inside the Quinjet.

Maybe once everything was better Daisy could ask May to teach her to fly.

They were all trying to avoid the Stone. Something about it felt bad. It was like… It was like being back on Maveth, faced with Hive. Something about it tried to draw you in, like it was your destiny, but once you realised what it was doing it felt bad. It sucked you into it, it wanted you. It made you feel like it was a benefit to both of you, but it was like a parasite almost.

Semi-sentient space rocks. Maybe she should have stuck with Miles. Even better, stuck with Matt. Matt probably didn't have to deal with anything like this.

One invulnerable alien, four speedsters, one electricity controlling Inhuman, one metal, one vibration, one future seeing metahuman, and one archer.

This worked.

* * *

"Hope! Hope!"

Scott had been yelling for at least ten minutes.

"I've made a mistake."

"She made her choice," Wanda said.

"I shouldn't have told her. She's…"

"Alive."

"Lost. I'm going after her."

"Don't leave me. Please."

"I need to tell Hank."

"How?"

"I need to hand myself in."

"Scott-"

"He needs to know. We can't hide forever. I need to tell Hank about Hope, I need to see Cassie, I-"

"You want to go home." Wanda looked at the hole where Novi Grad had been. "I understand."

"I'm sorry, Wanda. I can't do this anymore. I should never have taken the suit."

Wanda nodded.

"When are we leaving?"

"You don't have to come. The ATCU-"

"We can't hide forever. Perhaps if I face them myself they will understand."

Scott nodded, and yelled for Hope once more, but there was still nothing.

"Sharon was working in Berlin," Wanda said. "I speak German. It shouldn't take long if we find a train."

* * *

The Quinjet shuddered and two ladies appeared. Rhodey put on autopilot and headed to the back.

"This isn't Sokovia."

"This must be halfway between where we both shrank. It's a good thing there was a plane here."

"Maybe not."

"You're Hope Van Dyne," Tony said. "The Wasp."

"Yes."

"I'm going to assume you didn't intend to run into us."

"No."

"Tony Stark?" the other lady said. "You're Tony Stark."

"Yes."

"Goodness, you look like Howard."

"That's a bit of a sore spot," Rhodey said.

"Sorry. Last time I saw you, you were just a boy."

"You're Janet Van Dyne," Tony said. "Pym. You died."

"Shrank into the Quantum Realm, time doesn't exist there."

"It's complicated," Hope said. "I think I might be older than my mother."

"We've got time before we reach Berlin," Rhodey said. "We'll explain that too."

* * *

Sam didn't actually have a plan. Laurel and Thea seemed to be lost as well. He couldn't blame them. He didn't know what was going on either, he was just hoping for the best.

"Sam!"

He spun as they walked past the train station. Wanda and Scott were there.

"This can't be a coincidence."

"What are you doing here?" Wanda asked.

"I'm here to rescue Sharon, I think Laurel and Thea are helping?" Sam looked at them and Thea shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

"We were here to turn ourselves in," Scott said. "Hope shrank down into the Quantum Realm to try and rescue her mother, and didn't come back."

"We thought Sharon might help," Wanda said. "If I face the ACTU myself, they may understand. What happened to Sharon?"

"She's been arrested. Natasha's talking to her. We're breaking her out. Or maybe just me."

"We're not sure," Laurel said. "We ran into each other. Now we've run into you. If we run into anyone else, I'd say it's not a coincidence, but I don't see how it can't be."

"Maybe we can run into Steve," Sam said. "That would be a big help."

"It's this way," Thea said. "I think."

* * *

Rhodey didn't know where Natasha and Sharon were. Apparently Natasha had had a visit from Jane Foster.

Laurel Lance was outside though, and she wasn't alone.

"Three coincidences?" Sam said. "Sharon's clearly very popular."

"Do we change the plan?" Thea asked.

"It sounded more like Sara's thing anyway," Laurel said. "I assume everyone's under arrest now."

"No," Rhodey said. "No, Sam's right, this isn't a coincidence. The odds of this happening…"

"Minute," Bruce said. "Unless you have a stone that manipulates reality."

"A stone that manipulates reality?" Thea asked.

"They are called Infinity Stones," Thor said. "They were formed with the universe, containing six singularities. They are more than mere stones."

"Rather physical manifestations of aspects of the universe," Bruce said. Thor nodded.

"There are even rumours some of the Stones have some degree of sentience, particularly the Soul Stone. It appears someone is trying to gather them. We must find them first."

"Perhaps I can help," Wanda said. "Strucker, he…"

Wanda trailed off, but Rhodey had never heard her talk about it. She didn't talk about how she got her powers, or how she ended up there. Maybe to Clint, but not them. The only thing they knew was that Strucker had possession of the sceptre, and tried to use it on Clint, with no success. And when Ultron had used it, Wanda threw the influence off in minutes.

Ultron had used the sceptre. Even without whatever Strucker did, Wanda had a connection to the Stones.

Rhodey's phone rang.

"I think we're fine," he said. "Natasha."

* * *

Jane held a box containing the Stone.

"How did you know to find it?" Thor asked.

"Clint Barton," Selvig said.

"You've seen Clint?" Wanda asked.

"Did you feel the Stones?" Jane asked. Wanda nodded. "So did Clint. Meanwhile, Daisy Johnson, Cisco Ramon, and friends found Vision stone-less in the back of their van. They found Clint instead of SHIELD or you because they're unregistered Inhumans and didn't want to risk running into the ATCU. I suspect that feeling was Vision trying to use the Stone to call for help. Clint was going to find Helen Cho then the other stone."

"He's not answering," Natasha said. "I called as soon as Jane got here. Nothing. He just left a message with the same story, but it was while I was talking to Sharon. I persuaded them to let her go just before these three arrived."

"I'll call Helen," Tony said. "We need to find the other Stone. Antarctica?"

"Not any more," Darcy said, looking at a computer. "It's heading north."

"Clint and Vision need us," Wanda said. "Will we all fit in a Quinjet?"

"We've got two," Rhodey said.

"Maybe we shouldn't take the Stone if we're going to find the other," Thea said. "Just in case."

"She's right," Natasha said. "Thor, you know about them. Jane too. Tony, if you fly them to the Tower, you can go from there to check on Helen, and we can meet you later."

"And we need to tell SHIELD," Laurel said.

"We'll stop off on our way through to the Stone," Rhodey said.

* * *

Clint swore.

"What's going on?" Wally asked.

"Is it just me or does that look bad?"

"Yes," Lincoln said. "That definitely looks bad."

"Prepare for a crash landing."

* * *

They borrowed Antoine Triplett from SHIELD.

"The BUS would be better than a Quinjet," Trip said. "Much more space. But we should be able to fit, plus the other six. You lot haven't heard from Nick Fury or Maria Hill, have you? Coulson's trying to get in touch, but it's easier if I ask."

"No," Rhodey said.

"It'll be fine, I think Coulson's getting through, it just seems like something he should be informed of. No."

Rhodey turned to see the two people Trip was watching. The woman crossed her arms and the man followed.

"You're not coming. You're not even combat trained."

"That was never an issue before," the woman said. "And you might need a doctor."

"She's with Lincoln, he's a doctor."

"And what if Lincoln's the one who's hurt?"

"We're coming," the man said. "We haven't seen Daisy for a month."

"A month is not that long."

"We only stayed because Daisy said she'd be fine," the woman said. "We're coming."

"You can meet us at the tower with the others."

"Yes. Or we could come with you."

"I think they're pretty set on coming," Rhodey said.

"Fine. Fine, you can come," Trip said. "But you're staying in the Quinet."

The two of them hurried on board.

"Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz," Trip said.

"The two scientists that were stuck with Daisy, I heard you got them back. That explains their insistence on finding her."

"Yeah. Bobbi and May are going with Sam and Thea to Lian Yu, but King T'Challa is meeting them first."

"We're regrouping at Avengers Tower, Sam and Thea know, Thor, Jane, Erik, Darcy, Bruce, and Scott should already be there, and Tony's picking Helen up. Is that everything?"

"We're all set."

* * *

The signal had been moving steadily north, and Rhodey hoped that was Hawkeye, Quake, and co, but it had stopped just south of the Panama Canal.

A Quinjet was in pieces, and a very large purple man was standing opposite a woman. The others were lying on the floor. Natasha held Wanda close as they caught sight of silver hair.

The man stumbled and a second woman appeared in front of him. Rhodey flew down, and the man vanished.

The second woman vanished, and reappeared next to a man.

"Ow," Hawkeye said, sitting up. "Is it over?"

"What was that?" Rhodey asked.

"Thanos. Long story, we need to go. The other Stone is in Berlin."

"Actually, it's at the Tower," Sharon said. Clint froze.

"So's Laura," Daisy said, Rhodey recognised her now. "No one answered. Cisco, you okay?"

"Yeah." He stood, rubbing his head. "I told you it was the end of the world."

"End of the world," Hope said. "You missed that bit."

"Pietro," Wanda said. "Pietro, you're, you're…"

"I'm here, Wanda." He ran over to her and hugged her. "The Stone brought me back."

"Can we do this in the Quinet?" Clint said. "It's a long story, and we're on a time limit."

* * *

They did introductions first. They took a while.

Trip flew. Nat and Sharon stayed up front with him. Even Kara was inside. It was a bit of a squeeze, but they got everyone in. Somehow. Daisy was pretty much on top of FitzSimmons, but they didn't look like they minded.

Clint was already confused. There were a lot of people. He supposed they were just lucky no one had the same name. Well, James was popular, but no one in the same place had the same name, and they had nicknames.

Wanda was glued firmly to Pietro's side, and Rhodey and Laurel had explained. He and Tony had had a visit from Thor and Bruce, and they'd headed over to find the Stone, but Hope and Jane had appeared first, then they'd run into the others. Sam had run into Laurel and Thea, then they'd run into Wanda and Scott, while Hope shrank to try and find her mother, and Jane had a theory that the weird feeling they'd felt was Vision trying to call for help. Clint supposed that made sense.

Or maybe it was the Reality Stone itself, and it was a semi sentient space rock, like the Soul Stone, and had a soft spot for Jane after it's few days inhabiting her and decided to help save her home.

Clint really hoped it was Vision, it sounded less odd. Slightly. Then again, maybe they had more of a hope of winning if the rock liked them more than Thanos.

Nat and Sharon took over explaining next. Nat had missed Clint's calls, then hers hadn't gone through- presumably that was when he was on a plane to London and his phone was off during it- but Jane, Selvig, and Darcy found them. They'd found the Stone flickering, and Jane and Selvig had designed something to trap it in a box. Nat didn't understand how it worked exactly, something to do with the readings from the Tesseract and Greenwich.

Daisy and Cisco covered their end. Vision showing up, Cisco's vibe, being arrested, Kara, Wally, Barry, and Pietro showing up, a brief stop-over in Antarctica where Kara's cousin had a spaceship, their intention of heading to pick the other Stone up, crashing, and Thanos taking it.

He must have barely used the Stones at all, but Clint could feel bruises forming where he'd been flung back.

That probably covered everything. They sat in silence for a while.

"You know," Clint said. "I never did answer your question."

"What question?" Laurel asked.

"Wanda wanted to know why I knew Nick as Colonel Nick Fury if he was already working for SHIELD when we met. It was the other way around. Nick was there because I was there."

"Why?" Daisy asked. "You said your brother was in the FBI. Was that why?"

"No. Don't tell Captain America, he'll be disappointed in me. Laurel, you remember Nat's distraction?"

"You stole Roy's wallet."

"It wasn't the first time. My parents died when I was six. Least said the better. Barney and I didn't do so well in the orphanage, so three years later we ran away to the circus. It was great. It was the first place I felt like I was wanted. But then time went on and I realised it wasn't what I'd thought it was. I was a pick pocket and a petty thief. Barney was talking about leaving. I went with him because I didn't want to fall further down the hole. I wasn't old enough to join the army, and because Barney was, they wouldn't give him custody, so I went back into care for a while. Finished school, did my degree, and signed up."

"When you met Fury," Rhodey said.

"Barney had been shot while on a job for the FBI. He hadn't told me, because I was potentially involved. Two men trained me at the circus, Trick Shot and Swordsman. Trick Shot was the one who shot Barney. In the shoulder, he said he wouldn't kill him because he was still fond of me. SHIELD were investigating the Circus of Crime. If I hadn't left, I probably would have ended up there. SHIELD wanted to see if I was involved. There were rumours, and Buck's message didn't help. Nick and his partner, Monica Chang, were given the mission. Nick really had been in the army, a colonel, before he'd transferred to the CIA then SHIELD. He still had friends in the army, it wasn't hard to pick it back up again. But I was there and not with the Circus, I couldn't tell him much about them, so he went back to SHIELD. Next time I saw him, he was proving my innocence and offering me a job."

"We knew Agent Chang," Fitz said. "She never mentioned Director Fury though."

"We didn't know her that well," Simmons said. "She had no reason to mention him. She was at least our boss' boss' boss."

"They weren't working together by the time I joined," Clint said. "Nick was working up the ranks in Operations and Agent Chang was over in Sci-Ops. He didn't talk about why, I didn't ask. She was in charge of it by the time he became director in '08, so I assume they reconciled a little since. You'd be better off talking to Jimmy Woo, he worked with her a few times."

"I heard the FBI swooped back in the second SHIELD fell," Sharon said.

"Yeah, he dropped me a line, asked if I wanted a recommendation. I don't think he believed me when I said I was taking the opportunity to get out."

"I think you were the only person who believed you."

"Probably."

"Who's Jimmy Woo?" Barry asked.

"Old friend. He used to work for the FBI, worked with my brother on a few cases, but he transferred to SHIELD later. Good agent."

"When did he transfer?" Joey asked.

"About thirteen years ago. It was already in the works. But yes, Jimmy was there."

"You don't have to tell us," Elena said.

"Maybe one day. Can't be telling you all my secrets." Clint smiled. "It was a long time ago. Everything's different now. The SHIELD I knew, HYDRA destroyed."

"Everything ends," Trip said. "Grandma would have rather SHIELD crumble than HYDRA take it."

"Aunt Peggy would have tried to get SHIELD back," Sharon said. "She gave her life to it. She wasn't the only one. I think she'd be proud though. Of what we've become. And I think she'd get on well with Daisy and Laurel."

"I think she'd get on well with everyone here," Trip said. "Grandpa definitely would."

"SHIELD was your whole lives," Rhodey said.

"Our family's legacy," Sharon said. "And there's a new SHIELD. It's not gone. It's just different now. We can live up to them in different ways."

"How?" Kara asked. Wally nudged her, and gave her a small smile. "I can't protect Kal-El. That's what I was supposed to do. He was a baby, but I got trapped in the Phantom Zone and when I got here, he was seventeen."

"How old were you?" Jan asked.

"Thirteen."

Not much older than Cooper. Sending a child out across the universe on her own, only knowing there was a baby boy waiting.

"He needs the world to live on, right," Cisco said. "So by protecting the world you're looking after him?"

"Oh, you poor thing," Jan said. "I don't think protecting your cousin is why your parents sent you, honey. I think they just wanted you to live."

"We make our own place in the world," Natasha said. "What you were made for, or sent for, doesn't matter. It's your choices that do."

" **You're all getting emotional,** " Elena muttered. " **That's not going to help.** " Clint stifled a laugh.

"Hey, Rhodey, do you know if Tony cleared out my room at the Tower?"

"I don't think so, why, what's in there?"

"A lot of arrows. I think we might need them."

"I've got a better idea," Cisco said. "Trip, can you drop by STAR Labs?"

* * *

STAR Labs looked pretty much the same as it had the last time Daisy had been there. Which was a relief; Daisy had thought the ATCU might be waiting for them, since Barry had helped them escape the Raft. Presumably they knew Barry Allen was the Flash now. They had arrested him first.

But STAR Labs looked empty. Barry relaxed a little.

Trip was staying with the Quinjet, ready to take off at a moment's notice. Hope, Jan, Kara, Sharon, and Natasha were staying with him.

Jemma and Fitz were coming though. Apparently whatever Cisco was here to get was the secret project they'd been working on with him and Caitlin before Maveth.

Daisy shuddered. Joking about it was all well and good, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread she got every time she remembered Hive was still out there. Jemma and Fitz hadn't mentioned it, and she'd lost contact with Will since going on the run, but maybe once this was sorted. Andrew would be able to help, this was literally his job. They could ask May about talking to him. Or Daisy could, she knew how reluctant Jemma was when it came to asking for help.

STAR Labs was not quite as empty as they thought. Caitlin jumped up from where she was working at one of the computers as they walked in.

"Cisco!"

"Caitlin!" He hugged her. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. Barry, you're okay."

"It's good to see you too, Cait." He hugged her as well. "Are you okay?"

"Better now. Oh, just let me tell Felicity you're here, we've been trying to find you."

"I got arrested. With Falcon. Wally broke us out."

"Wally?"

"Hi." Wally waved. "It's a long story."

"You need to go and see Joe and Iris, they've been so worried."

"I will. But first we have to save the world."

"What?"

Jemma and Fitz took the opportunity to go and fetch the secret project as Cisco told Caitlin about his vibe. She nodded.

Fitz and Jemma returned pushing a rack of colourful clothes.

"Not all of them are finished," Caitlin said. "We were waiting for you."

"You were?" Cisco asked.

"None of us have ever made costumes before," Jemma said. "Costumes is your thing."

"We managed a few more of the ones like Daisy's," Fitz said.

"That was it," Caitlin said.

"All three of them are finishing each other's sentences now," Clint whispered. Daisy was pretty sure she was the only one who heard.

"What do you mean like mine?" she asked. Cisco pulled a suit off the rail and handed it to her. It looked a little like the one Agent Romanoff had used during Sokovia, with yellow accents instead of blue. There were two gauntlets too, like the ones Fitz and Jemma had made just after she got her powers, and a belt with lots of pouches.

"Laurel asked me to make one for Sara," Cisco said. "Then Fitz and Simmons came to ask about making you one. We might have got a bit carried away."

"Just a bit," Caitlin said. "Did Sara like it?"

"Yes," Laurel said. "She's off travelling through time."

"With Jax and Professor Stein?"

"And Ray. And Kendra and Carter, and Leonard Snart and Mick Rory."

"She's travelling through time with Captain Cold and Heatwave?" Cisco asked.

"Saving the world in the future. Which means we need to save it today."

"Yes. Okay. Costumes. Barry, you've already got one, Pietro, we have a blue version? It hasn't got a mask, and the lightning bolt is a bit bigger. Experimenting on Barry's, doesn't matter. Erm. Wally, you're using the other experiment one. Oh, what about the Streak?"

"You mean Iris' first name for Barry?" Wally asked.

"I've got one," Jemma said. "Where. As in Where's Wally." Both her and Fitz burst out laughing. "Because you run so quickly no one can find you?"

"I think they call him Waldo in America," Fitz said. "I guess the joke doesn't work so well."

"I didn't think you could find something worse than Kid Flash," Wally said. "But apparently I was wrong."

"Moving on," Cisco said. "This is why I do the names. Laurel, yours isn't even close to ready."

"I'm fine with this one, thank you."

"This is for Bobbi," Jemma said, picking a black and white suit a bit like Daisy's up. "Lincoln, this one's for you."

"Thanks," Lincoln said. His was similar to Daisy's too, with blue accents. Jemma and Fitz picked up two more, one blue, and one yellow.

"You could try these?" Fitz said, handing one to Joey and one to Elena. "For now. They're not bullet proof, but they should give protection."

"You don't need to worry about that," Joey said. "I'm already bullet proof. If the bullets are metal."

"Oh. Good."

"You won't turn into Pietro then," Wanda said. He elbowed her.

"And we've got this one for you, Clint," Jemma said. "It's only got one sleeve though."

"It's very purple."

"We've seen your briefs," Fitz said. "The SHIELD ones. To Sci-Ops. For designing?"

"I know what you meant, Fitz. Thank you. Finished or not, it's a vast improvement on this." He pulled at the shirt he'd been given when they were taken to the Raft. Daisy had almost forgotten she was still wearing hers.

"It's not really a mask," Jemma said. "But we've got a purple balaclava and some red goggles." She handed it to Clint and Cisco stiffened.

"That's what you saw, isn't it?" Daisy asked Cisco. He nodded. "If Laurel's sister is saving the world in the future, surely that means we save it?"

"Or it means we're going to run into them later because the Earth suddenly blinked out of existence."

Caitlin handed a white suit and a black suit to Wanda.

"It looks the right size for Sharon," Clint said. Daisy realised she'd missed half a conversation, but the black suit was clearly for Natasha.

"We'll go and give them to them," Wanda said. Pietro picked her up and ran off.

"And this one's for you, Cisco," Caitlin said. He looked bewildered as she handed it to him. Mostly black, with some red and yellow. A black sleeveless jacket hung over it.

"You made me a suit?"

"You and Daisy were going to be a double act. You needed one. I thought you'd probably want your glasses, but we do have a spare red mask, like Thea's, if you want."

"Um. Wow. You made me a suit."

"We can talk about it later," Caitlin said. "Shouldn't we be going?"

"We?"

"You're not leaving me here now."

"It's dangerous."

"Yes, so you might need a doctor."

"I'm sure there's one there."

"One who has experience treating metahumans?"

"There's Simmons," Barry said. "She pulled a bullet out of me once."

"Fitz is terrible with anything like that, Doctor Snow would be a much better partner."

"We don't have time for bickering," Colonel Rhodes said. "Doctor Snow, I'm sure you know what you're getting into, it's your choice."

* * *

Avengers Tower didn't look so great.

A portal had opened in the sky.

Steve was waiting outside, and he wasn't alone.

"T'Challa told us. Pepper gave me the shield."

"Aren't you needed in Wakanda?" Laurel asked.

"Circumstances are dire enough that I am more useful to Wakanda here," T'Challa said. "My sister is ruling in my absence."

"I'm here because Steve dragged me."

"Everyone, this is Bucky," Steve said. "It's a long story."

"We've got a lot of them," Laurel said.

Chitauri were pouring through the portal.

"Great," Clint said. "These guys again."

"We beat them before," Natasha said. "We can beat them again.

"Last time we had an Infinity Stone, and I almost died in space," Tony said.

"There's a lot more of us this time," Kara said.

"And we have no intention of going back to space," Simmons said.

"Star Trek made it look so easy," Fitz said.

The door opened and the others joined them. Roy and Thea waved, and Laurel hugged Diggle. Oliver passed Clint his bow and two full quivers.

"Hi Barry," he said.

"I don't think you've met Kara yet."

"Entertaining as that's going to be," Clint said. "Let's beat the aliens and evil guy with sentient rocks first."

"How?" Joey asked. "There's a lot of them, and I can melt metal."

"You can do a bit more than melt metal, mate."

"Hunter," Daisy said. "Are you all here?"

"We've got a costume for you, Bobbi," Simmons said.

"Is Mack here?" Elena asked.

"He's downstairs," Bobbi said.

"Tell him to stay away."

"It's not personal," Jemma said. "It's just Cisco saw the end of the world maybe. And they were together."

"Steve?" Sam asked. "Got a plan?"

"We work together. We get people to safety. We take out Thanos. And we save the world."

"I love how descriptive your plans are, I feel like I know exactly what I'm doing now."

"Thanks, Nat."

* * *

Clint was shooting.

That wasn't exactly new.

Nor, unfortunately, was him shooting at Chitauri.

Shooting at Chitauri with Thea Queen though, that was.

Thanos was on the roof of the Tower, but he seemed content waiting for the Chitauri to beat them.

They'd just have to prove him wrong.

Clint watched everyone.

Sam, Thor, Kara, Tony, and Rhodey were in the air, taking out as many as they could before they got to the ground. Oliver and Roy were on a different roof.

Blurs shot down the streets. Barry, Wally, Elena, and Pietro. Getting people out the way of buildings. Punching aliens at high speeds. Barry appeared to be throwing lightning.

Tony had suggested the basement in the Tower as somewhere for everyone to stay. Clint hadn't been entirely sure it was a good idea, seeing as it was right under the portal, but apparently it had been built to survive a damaged arc reactor. He had a feeling Tony had panicked slightly after the last alien invasion and deliberately intended for it to survive the Battle of New York Part Two.

Helen Cho was down there. Pepper had called Betty Ross when Laura had brought Vision too. Jane, Selvig, and Darcy. Running numbers with Fitz, while Helen, Caitlin, and Simmons took care of people. Betty wasn't that sort of doctor, but she knew enough to help with the more minor injuries.

Trip, Coulson, May, Hunter, and Mack were getting people down there from just outside the Tower.

Laura was down there too, Simmons had told him. She was taking care of people, she was good at that, and she could take care of herself, but he was absolutely terrified.

They had to win.

Steve, Bucky, T'Challa, Nat, Sharon, Bobbi, Laurel, Diggle, Cisco, Daisy, Lincoln, and Wanda were all on the streets, concentrating more on getting people safe before stopping the aliens. Clint was pretty sure Hope, Scott, and Jan were too, but they kept shrinking and his eyes weren't that good.

Hulk was smashing. He seemed to be enjoying it.

"I'm running low on arrows," Roy said. SHIELD had brought comms, good old SHIELD.

"On my way," Wally said. A blur ran up the side of the building.

Another blur ran up next to him, depositing some more.

"Thanks, Barry," Thea said.

"Do you do this a lot?"

"If this is the future, I'm going back into the ice," Bucky said.

"I'm sure it's not all bad," Jan said. "We just got here at a bad time."

"Besides," Kara said. "I think we're winning."

"Shush with your optimism, maybe I want to regret all my life choices in peace."

"I thought the problem was the things you didn't choose," Sam said.

"None of this would have happened if I hadn't met Steve."

"That sounds familiar."

"Will you two stop, we're supposed to be stopping the end of the world," Steve said. "Barton, any movement from Thanos?"

"Nothing. The stone needed power before, right? So it's drawing energy from the other stones."

"Yes," Rhodey said. "That doesn't help us stop it."

"It does. We don't need all the stones. We need one stone."

"The Mind Stone," Jane said. "It could work. Maybe."

"Maybe is better than no," Sharon said.

"Could it bring Vision back?" Wanda asked. Clint shot an explosive arrow at a group of Chitauri before they could reach Steve.

"Potentially," Helen said.

"Then we try it."

"We can't stop the invasion before we stop Thanos," Sharon said. "As long as he's there, the portal will stay open, and they'll keep coming. They all stopped last time. Simmons?"

"Oh, I didn't really study them, I, I got sick."

"That was not a fun day," Daisy said.

"They must have had a connection to the ship," Tony said. "Life support systems?"

"We don't know what there atmosphere is like," Simmons said.

She started rambling with Fitz, the way they always had, finishing each other's sentences and getting excited about science. Caitlin chipped in too.

Clint decided he was too busy shooting aliens to keep up.

"So we shut the portal and the Chitauri can't survive our atmosphere," Rhodey summerised. He flew past Clint and Thea, and Thea took out the Chitauri that was on his tail.

"They'll die?" Kara asked. "All of them?"

"They are trying to take over the world," Clint said. "And Thanos wants to end the universe."

"They can't all be bad."

"All right. We'll try and push some of them back through the portal. We need to get the Space Stone before we can shut it."

"There's still people on the streets," Laurel said. "Shouldn't we deal with that first?"

"We need a proper plan," Sharon said. "It's all very well listing what we have to do, but we don't know how to do any of it."

"Cross our fingers and hope?" Clint asked. He shot another arrow before one could reach Nat.

"Maybe not this time, Clint," Bobbi said.

A Chitauri flew past on one of the flying scooter things. He shot an explosive arrow at it before it could catch up to Rhodey.

"We need to split up," Rhodey said. "Each team take a different focus. Campbell, take Hulk and stay near the portal. Anything coming through he doesn't smash, you fry."

"Yes, sir. Erm, come on Hulk."

"Supergirl, you stay near it too. Flash, Kid Flash or whatever you're calling yourself, Quicksilver, Slingshot, get as many civilians as you can to Avengers Tower. Iron Man, you're with them."

"Right you are, honey bear."

"Not now, Tony. Falcon, you too. Green Arrow, Arsenal, Speedy, Hawkeye, stay up high, keep a close eye on things. The rest of us focus on the Chitauri. Cap, you go for the Mind Stone. Who do you need?"

"Scarlet Witch. Maybe Thor. Hawkeye, you threw off the sceptre's influence once before, right?"

"Once."

"So's Wanda."

"Are you sure about this?" Natasha asked.

"It's worth a shot."

* * *

They weren't alone on the streets. Daisy would have thought they'd send the army by now, but apparently just the police.

The officer seemed to share her sentiments.

On the other hand, they hadn't sent the ATCU, so that was good.

She threw a few Chitauri back. Cisco did the same thing.

"I have no idea how I did that."

"Try and do it again?"

"Building," Joey said. Daisy spun, and sent shockwaves to hold as much up as she could.

Elena ran through, scooping up anyone who was still under it.

Daisy let go, trying to force the rubble down straight so it didn't hit anyone.

"Where's Elena?" Joey asked.

* * *

Clint smiled at Wanda.

"You okay, kiddo?"

No. Not really. Her brother had come back, and she hadn't had a chance to process that. They were about to fight someone they didn't know if they could beat. And the stone had given her her power. It was Vision's stone.

And she was afraid.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah. I'm fine too. Oi, Thanos!"

Clint shot an explosive arrow at Thanos' face and Wanda concentrated.

* * *

Mack had already half got Vision out the door. Helen Cho had helped him.

"Mack!"

"Daisy, where are you?"

"Mack, it's Elena."

"Yo-yo? Daisy?"

"A building fell, we think she's trapped."

"All right. Stay put, I'll come and find you."

"We can take Vision with us," Helen said.

"You're a civilian," Mack said.

"I'm a doctor."

Mack nodded, and the two of them picked up Vision and ran.

* * *

Clint tumbled off the roof.

"Could someone please catch me? Because I'm out of arrows and can't fly."

Wanda felt a tug from the stones and pulled.

Thanos was right in front of her.

She pulled on the Mind Stone, hoping it would work.

"I could destroy you with one stone," Thanos said. "I can change reality itself."

* * *

Mack pulled Elena out the rubble and held onto her. Joey was watching over Vision.

"You're going to be okay, Yo-yo. Doctor Cho?"

Hawkeye landed not far from them, with Kara's help. Oliver landed next to him, sliding off a roof with a grappling arrow.

His last arrow.

Hawkeye had pulled the purple mask up and put the goggles on at some point since Cisco had last seen him, presumably when he went to fight Thanos.

He could see Lincoln aiming up at Chitauri as they kept coming.

Hulk jumped.

* * *

Bruce fell. Hulk had... Hulk had gone.

Hulk had gone.

He tried to get angry. They were trying to destroy his home. Ross had tried to destroy his new family too.

Betty was down there somewhere.

Bruce thought of his worst memories, and saw red.

But he couldn't see green.

And the ground was fast approaching.

* * *

"Put him back!" Wanda yelled.

Red spiralled down. Wanda couldn't see what was happening, she was at the wrong angle.

Steve threw his shield and Thanos deflected it, but it gave Wanda a chance to step back.

The Mind Stone no longer in the gauntlet.

* * *

Thor lowered Bruce to the ground, to Lincoln.

"What did he do with Hulk?"

"Whatever it was, it can't be good." Lincoln paused. "Joey?"

"I don't have a comm," Bruce said.

"Doctor Cho's eyes are green."

"Get her here right now."

"Barry's on his way."

* * *

Thor had gone for Bruce, and Clint had fallen, so there were only two of them left on the roof. Steve held his shield between Thanos and Wanda.

Wanda gathered her strength, and threw the stone.

* * *

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

Mack was cradling Elena.

A building was falling on Doctor Banner and Lincoln.

Clint and Oliver were back to back, arrowless, Clint yelling for Barry and Kara to hurry.

Tony Stark was falling out the sky, his suit shut down.

Vision lay still.

Cisco reached out.

"Your Vibe?" Daisy asked.

He nodded.

Daisy took his hand.

* * *

Natasha couldn't see what was happening, but she could hear.

She could see T'Challa fighting a bit away with Bucky, and Laurel and Bobbi back to back, surrounded. Sharon was at her side, fighting as stubbornly as ever.

Cisco seemed to think this was the end of the world.

Now or never.

"Hey, Sharon?"

"Kind of busy here, Nat."

"Do you want to go to dinner sometime, maybe?"

"You're thinking about food now?"

"No, no, the date sort of dinner."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I guess Clint wasn't wrong after all."

"I heard that," Clint said. "You know you two have got your comms on, right?"

"Shut up, Clint," Natasha said. "Sharon?"

"Yeah. I'd like that, Nat."

Sharon smiled, and punched an alien in the face.

"Has anyone got any ideas for last words?" Hunter asked. "Because I don't really want mine to be what's going through my head right now, it's not exactly P.G.. Bob..." He trailed off.

"I didn't think I'd have to see it again," Kara said. "Not again."

"We did all we could," T'Challa said. "We can meet our ends with pride."

Sharon looked at Natasha.

"Well, screw that, I've got a date."

"The world's not ended yet," Clint said. "Who cares about pride anyway? Kicking and screaming, Agent 13?"

"Hawkeye, you know me so well."

A bolt of red shot across the sky.

"I think it's a bit late for that," Sam said.

* * *

Tony Stark was falling out the sky, his suit dead. Cisco watched as he tumbled, hitting the building Lincoln and Bruce were under. Rubble started to fall.

Barry shot past them, with Kara flying above him, Barry grabbing hold of Doctor Cho as he ran.

The red streaked down, and Cisco waited for the yellow flash.

The Mind Stone hit Vision's forehead.

* * *

Wanda was alone on the roof. She didn't turn to look at where Steve had fallen.

Thanos frowned at her.

"I still have five stones, girl."

"Do your worst."

Wanda was thrown back.

She felt herself fall through the air.

* * *

"Wanda!" Pietro shouted. He ran, but he couldn't run up walls like Barry and Wally.

He skidded to a stop next to Cisco.

"So, we're not dead," Joey said. "What did happen?"

Pietro ran forwards as Vision lowered Wanda to the ground.

* * *

Clint sat down next to Wanda. Pietro was the other side, and Vision had kept hold of her.

Kara and Barry had pulled Bruce and Lincoln away from the building, and Thor had caught Tony.

Sam had caught Steve.

Everyone had gathered, catching their breath after the world hadn't ended.

Clint decided he was going to ignore Sharon and Nat holding hands.

"Pietro?" Wanda asked.

He murmured softly, reassuring her that he was still there. Cisco seemed in a state of shock, but Daisy and Lincoln were sorting him out.

"Hey, kid," Clint said. He smiled at Wanda. "You were amazing."

"I can still fight."

"Get some rest."

"I hate to be a downer," Tony said. "But there are still aliens, and the world is still being attacked. Thor, can you reboot my arc reactor? I'm running on backup."

Thor shot a bolt of lightning at him. The armour singed, but it turned on.

"This was the Reality Stone?" Bruce asked. "Then that's what we're going to need."

"He has a gauntlet that allows him to control them," Steve said.

"Is it made of metal?" Joey asked.

"Probably."

"Sounds like it's your time to shine, Joey," Daisy said.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked.

"I have this superpower," Joey said. "Metal manipulation. I might be able to melt it off his hand, if I can get close enough."

"You sure you want to do this?"

He glanced back at Elena.

"Yeah."

"Would you look at that," Clint said. "The world's still turning, and we're still fighting. Good to have you back, Vision."

"Aliens?" Natasha asked.

"Aliens," Sharon said.

* * *

Mack had got Elena back to Avengers Tower. Pietro had come too, for Wanda, and he'd run upstairs to find more arrows.

Simmons hurried over to take care of her.

Mack grabbed his shotgun axe.

"Where are you going?" Fitz asked.

"They need all the help they can get. You've got Yo-yo?"

"Is Doctor Cho coming?" Simmons asked.

"She's having a little trouble with a hulk right now," Mack said. "But soon."

He could see Laura Barton taking care of Wanda.

The basement was filling up.

"Nothing from Fury, sir?" Mack asked Coulson.

"He's on his way, with Hill."

Mack nodded.

Off to fight aliens.

Just how he wanted to spend his day.

* * *

Clint was back to back with Oliver, shooting anything that came close. They tossed each other arrows. Pietro dropped them off.

Diggle ran past with Laurel, who was using the sonic device Cisco had made to push them back. Bobbi wasn't far.

Nat and Sharon were side by side. Clint could hear them over the comms. T'Challa wasn't far from them. Clint decided never to get in a fight with him.

Bucky was with Steve. Kara and Thor were giving them a lift back up, to distract from Wally and Joey running up behind them, and Vision. Thea and Roy were positioned on the roof, and Bruce, Barry, and Lincoln were still taking care of Doctor Cho.

Pietro was on arrow collection.

Sam, Rhodey, and Tony were still in the air.

Daisy and Cisco were still on the ground with them.

"Just like old times, hey, Ollie?"

"No."

"I don't know, there was some weird stuff on that island."

"You were there for a week."

Clint shot another arrow.

"How's it going up there?"

* * *

"Could be better," Steve said. He groaned as he tried to pull himself up from the floor. "Down there?"

"Could be worse," Natasha said.

"Lucky you."

Thanos didn't seem to be paying much attention to them, just focusing on the portal.

Wally zipped past and dropped Joey off. Joey reached out.

The gauntlet melted.

"Impossible," Thanos said.

Wally picked Joey up, and ran back down the building.

Vision flew through him and picked up the Stones.

Thor grabbed Thanos and flew up.

The portal closed, just as Thor came back through.

"Oh, thank goodness," Scott said. "You know, for a minute there, I thought we were all going to die."

"Is anybody else seeing spots?" Barry asked. He fell backwards and Wally darted forwards to catch him. Barry blinked. "I'm fine. Everything's normal."

"Did you just pass out again?" Cisco asked, through the comms. "That hasn't happened for a while, it is not normal."

"Maybe we should go and find something to eat," Wally said.

"Best idea I've heard all day," Sharon said.

"We're not far from that Shawarma place we visited last time," Tony said.

"I have an even better idea," Natasha said. "Clint, Laura's at the Tower?"

"Yeah. Laura, I have to-"

"The Tower has a fairly sizable kitchen."

"I cannot cook for that many people."

"You could with help."

"I could be talked into it."

* * *

They trudged into the Tower. There wasn't any fanfare, not really any celebration, just a tired group of people. Tired and hungry.

Coulson and May nodded. FitzSimmons and Trip ran forward to get to Daisy.

Lincoln was holding onto Helen. Vision had been able to switch them back. Helen was exhausted, and Bruce seemed distracted. Though he'd been trying to get rid of Hulk for so long, and to be so close, that would cause anyone distress. But he also wouldn't wish it on anyone else. He was always going to take it back. Betty Ross found him, and they were both sitting close to each other.

Thea was sticking very close to Oliver. Same with Pietro and Wanda. And Hope and Jan. Clint smiled. He was glad they'd all found each other again. Laurel and Diggle were close too, and Wally, Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry seemed attached. Scott was with Hope.

Mack had found Elena. She perked up when Joey started telling her what she'd missed. Mack seemed a bit lost with the Spanish, but he didn't seem to mind. He was just happy she was awake.

Thor had already said he'd take the Stones, except the Mind Stone. He knew some people in space. Joey had encased them in metal to stop anyone touching them. Thor was talking to Kara about something. Probably space. Jane was making her way over, almost definitely space.

Steve and T'Challa might have been having a serious conversation. Sam and Bucky definitely weren't. Hunter and Bobbi were together, Coulson and May, Nat and Sharon, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper, Vision had found Wanda, and Clint...

"Dada!"

Nate toppled over after the first step, and crawled the rest of the way to Clint. Clint picked him up and held him tight as he babbled.

"Dada ee?"

"I did see, Nate, you clever boy. Oh, my clever boy."

"Dada Ad?"

"Everything's fine, Nate. Everything's okay. You're safe. We saved the world. You're safe."

"Clint?"

"Laura. Laura, did you see? He walked, didn't you, bud?"

"Mama!"

"That's right, it's Mama. It wasn't quite a walk, it was more a step, but still, you're getting to be a big boy now, aren't you, Nate?"

"Clint." Laura kissed him. She ran her hands through his hair, checking his face for bruises, which there probably were, and clutched him tight. "Clint."

"I'm here. The kids are safe. You're safe. I'm safe. Nat asked Sharon on a date. The world's safe. It's over, everything is fine."

Nate babbled as Clint held onto Laura. Cooper and Lila came running over to join the hug. Clint took a deep breath.

He never wanted to let go.

"Did you win, Dad?"

"Yeah, Coop. We won. Let's never do that again. Think I could retire?"

"Absolutely not," Laura said. "You'd try. But the second you heard someone needed saving, you'd be straight out that door."

"I'd stay if you asked."

"I know you would. That's why I've never asked. You come and you go, and I get so worried about you, but this is what you do, Clint. I knew this was how it was going to be. And every second of it is worth it for this."

"I shouldn't have asked you to come here."

"Someone needed to get Vision here. We're all fine."

"Yeah. We're all fine. I'm going to cook something to eat, are you coming?"

"You're going to cook for everyone here?"

"Everyone who wants something. I was thinking pancakes. To start with anyway."

"Can I help?" Lila asked.

"Of course you can."

* * *

Most of the people they'd got to the tower left. Clint wasn't really expecting them to stay. People had homes they wanted to find, and things to do. The world was still turning, so life carried on.

Various people came back with food though. That was nice of them.

It was the least consistent meal he'd ever had, but it was food.

Most people left after that. The army finally started arriving.

Ross walked in. Betty put herself between him and Bruce.

"Here to arrest us all?" Tony asked.

"Contrary to your beliefs, Mister Stark, I don't actually enjoy doing this."

"But we broke the Accords," Daisy said. "Not that most of us signed them. At least eight of us broke out of prison, helped by two more, and us five, well, the ATCU probably don't like us much."

"Tomorrow," Betty said. "Do this tomorrow."

"Or not at all."

Nick Fury walked through the door, Maria Hill at his side.

"Sir," Phil said.

"A revised version of the Accords," Nick said, handing them to Laurel. She skimmed through them. "I think you'll prefer them, Captain Rogers."

"You've got a good lawyer," Laurel said, handing them to Ross.

"Jennifer Walters. She was highly recommended."

"My Jen?" Bruce asked.

"That seems in order," Ross said. He nodded. "Fury."

"Ross." Nick accepted the Accords back.

"You don't want pancakes, do you?" Clint asked. "The other stuff might need reheating, not that there's much of it left, but I can make more pancakes."

"No thank you, Barton, I have to get back to work."

Ross nodded, slightly confused, and made his way out. Betty went after him.

"Pancakes, Nick? Maria?"

"Please," Maria said.

"These new Accords," Tony said.

"We need permission before we operate overseas," Laurel said. "But the Avengers are a separate organisation, able to make their own decisions, though staying out of conflicts between countries is preferred, at least until the UN has got involved."

"That seems reasonable," Rhodey said.

"It does," Steve said.

"And registration?" Lincoln asked.

"Not part of the Accords," Laurel said. "And the ATCU was the American government."

"It's being temporarily suspended," Nick said. "SHIELD will handle the Inhumans. Who Coulson puts in charge is at his discretion."

"I've got someone in mind." Phil nodded at Daisy.

"Any other questions?"

"Yes," Scott said. "I have one. We saved the world together, and that was really great, but I'm still not exactly sure who half of you are."

"It's a long story," Daisy said.

* * *

They drifted. The sun was getting low, and it had been a long day.

No one had brought up going back to SHIELD, and Daisy wasn't going to. They'd sat downstairs ready to debrief with Director Fury, but Barry had started snoring quietly, and it wasn't long before Wanda joined in. Tony had offered to find the rest of them beds for the night. There wasn't enough room, really, but there were a few spare rooms, and they'd saved the world together.

They could share a few beds.

Daisy had insisted she was fine where she was. Pepper had smiled and brought plenty of blankets. Pietro had taken the seat next to Wanda, and Trip was the other end of the sofa from Barry.

Jemma and Fitz had curled up around Daisy. She couldn't sleep though.

"Thank you," Vision said. Wanda was leaning against him.

"For what?"

"For helping me."

"We couldn't just leave you. We just didn't know what to do."

"Have you slept since you escaped the Raft?"

"It feels surreal that was only this morning. I guess today's just a lot to take in. But it's over now."

"I am sure all will be well in time. You should get some sleep, Agent Johnson."

"Daisy. What about you?"

"I do not require sleep. But I will stay, if you need anything."

"Thanks, Vision." Daisy yawned. "There is something that's still bothering me though. Were there any anomalies from the Stones?"

"None I detected."

"Sam and Laurel told us about running into everyone. And you landed in our van. Thor came back from Asgard at just the right moment, and Barry and everyone knew to come to the Raft, even though it hadn't been that long, and I doubt it was all over the news. Kara took us straight to an Infinity Stone, and the other was near Sharon and Natasha. That's a lot of coincidences. Almost as if someone meddled with reality."

"Perhaps."

"Clint had an idea that maybe the Reality Stone had a soft spot for Doctor Foster after being inside her. Thanos wouldn't have wanted us all together, and he definitely wouldn't have brought Pietro back."

"You disagree?"

"I think it's a lot simpler." Daisy smiled at Wanda. "And I think she likes you too."

"It's an interesting theory. But I didn't do anything."

"Consciously. Good night, Vision."

"Good night, Daisy."

* * *

It was already heading towards afternoon when Daisy woke up. Vision was talking to Thor. Probably about the Stones.

Pepper Potts made her way over with scrambled egg.

"Laura said you'd like it. It was supposed to be an omelette."

"Thanks," Daisy said, accepting the plate. Jemma and Fitz both had their own. "It's really good." She yawned. "Sorry, it's just-"

"Yesterday was a long day. Shout if you need anything else."

She smiled and headed back over to where Tony and Rhodey were standing. Everyone else was starting to trickle in too. Daisy pulled herself a little more upright and winced.

"Are you okay?" Jemma asked.

"Fine. I just ache."

"You saved the world," Fitz said. "Again."

"I guess I helped, yeah."

"What now?"

"I don't know."

"You're an Avenger," Jemma said. "Everyone said you were."

"We can stay here if you want," Fitz said.

"You guys don't-"

"Hey," Trip said. "We're with you, Daisy. As long as you need us."

"Besides," Mack said. He was bandaged too as he sat down next to Trip. Elena sat next to him. Joey and Lincoln weren't far behind. "We make a good team, Tremors. We missed you."

Elena said something in Spanish, and Joey smiled.

"She said you were a good team leader."

Daisy looked over at where Coulson and May had wandered into the room. She smiled.

"Half of SHIELD can't run off," she said. "We've still got HYDRA to deal with. If the Avengers need us, they know who to call."

"SHIELD it is," Trip said. "Maybe a week off before HYDRA. FitzSimmons, didn't you mention going home?"

"Yes," Jemma said. "Especially after that, my mum's going to be worrying her socks off."

"And I'd like to visit Grandma if we're going to that part of the world."

"As long as we don't get arrested this time," Lincoln said, and Daisy laughed. May smiled at her from across the room.

"Yeah. Let's go home."

* * *

Tony insisted on ordering lunch. They tried tell him it was fine, that the brunch was enough (Clint was convinced Pepper Potts was some kind of miracle worker, finding that many eggs), but it was nice. Besides, half of them still couldn't move. Elena's arm was in a sling.

Helen had bandaged Clint up. Nothing major was broken though. Just battered and bruised, like everyone else.

Trip had called his mother. He was planning on getting on the next flight to London, with FitzSimmons and Daisy.

They left quite quickly after lunch. Coulson and the rest of his team did too, and Elena, Joey, and Lincoln. Clint wished them luck.

Thor went next. He promised to come back, but he had to make sure the Infinity Stones were safe and separate first.

T'Challa headed off too. He had a country to get back to.

Sam's sister came to find him, over from Harlem. Clint gave them some space, but Sarah Wilson seemed nice. She was obviously very proud of her big brother, even if she was trying to be cross with him for disappearing.

Steve and Bucky went with them when they left.

Nick and Maria hadn't stayed, which made Clint the senior SHIELD agent when the DEO showed up.

Or one agent did. Though considering a tall guy flew her there, Clint should have guessed it wasn't official business.

They hugged Kara. She had mentioned an adoptive sister and a cousin. He'd apologised about not being there earlier, but he'd gone to find Kara's family first. Next time, Rhodey said.

They left to Kara wondering how she was going to explain this at work.

Helen Cho was after that. Clint hadn't realised she was married, but he hadn't asked either.

Oliver, Diggle, Roy, Thea, and Laurel were making their own way back, and Clint stood up.

"Are you four going back to STAR Labs?" he asked.

"Please," Caitlin said.

"Anyone else?"

"We were going to see if the Stones had any lasting effects," Jane said. "Make sure everything's okay."

"I might stay too," Wanda said. She smiled at Vision.

"If Wanda's staying, I will as well," Pietro said.

"If you're offering," Scott said. "Hope, Jan?"

"All right then," Clint said. "Ready, honey?"

Laura smiled.

* * *

They dropped Hope, Scott, and Jan off first. They said a quick hello to Maggie, Paxton, Cassie, and Luis, then gave them some space. Hope and Jan were going to find Hank alone. They needed space. That was going to be a long, emotional, conversation.

STAR Labs was next and Caitlin, Cisco, Wally, and Barry got ready to disembark. Clint and Laura wished them the best as Clint opened the door.

Iris West practically jumped Wally and Barry. She engulfed them in a hug.

"Thanks for your message, Caitlin," Joe said. "Wallace West."

"Hey, Dad." Wally drew out the words. He untangled himself from Iris and she stood with Barry.

"Come here." Joe hugged him. "Never disappear like that again. Ever. Promise?"

"I promise."

"We were so worried about you." Joe let go. "You should have said something."

"And if you don't want to talk to him, you can talk to me," Iris said.

"I'm proud of you. Scared of what could happen. But proud."

"Thanks, Dad."

"And don't think you're getting away with vanishing like that, Bartholomew."

"It won't happen again, Joe."

"It's good to see you again, Cisco."

"Hi, Iris. Wally and Barry broke me out of Azkaban."

"And Barry passed out again," Caitlin said.

"You two did what?" Joe asked.

"Wally broke me out first."

"Dude, I thought we were friends."

"You helped with two prison breaks?" Iris asked.

"I think you'll need some space for that story," Clint said.

"We'll catch up with you soon," Laura said.

"Soon," Barry agreed.

"Maybe not because of a potential end of the world this time though," Cisco said.

* * *

Home was just as they left it. A gentle breeze brushed against the grass, and the cattle over on the next farm perked up, like they always did when it approached milking time.

After the chaos of the past few days, it was nice to know some things never changed.

Clint carried Nate back to the house. Laura leaned on him as they walked.

Home.

* * *

Budapest was as beautiful as always. The Danube wound its way beneath them, glistening with reflections in the dark.

Sharon rested her head on Natasha's shoulder.

"Trip. They're after HYDRA again, and FitzSimmons are certain they had something to do with why Will was on that planet. Gideon Malik is the current head, it seems."

"Malik that ordered Nick to drop a bomb on New York?"

"Nick never liked him anyway. Trip wanted to know if we wanted to help. They've just sent Piper Vasquez over to the DEO, and SHIELD doesn't have the numbers they used to."

"Piper Vasquez, I'm sure I've met her, she's got a sister?"

"Susan, works for the DEO. How do you know?"

"Probably Clint, who in SHIELD didn't he know. Why are SHIELD working with the DEO?"

"An incident involving a Kree and one of Rhodey's old air force friends. Carol Danvers."

"Danvers? That wouldn't happen to be Kara's adopted cousin?"

"Small world."

"Her sister works for the DEO too, doesn't she?"

"That's why they're dealing with it."

"How is Trip?"

"He's fine. Had a nice few weeks with Daisy and FitzSimmons. Aunt Peggy's okay."

"That's good. We can go and see her if you want."

"Maybe once we've done here. What about Clint and Laura?"

"Off to visit Helen Cho over the weekend, she's pregnant."

"That's nice. Is she back in Seoul?"

"No, she and Phil, her husband, decided it might be better to stay near Bruce, at least until they're sure the Infinity Stones didn't have any lasting effects. Helen's fine, but no one compensated for a baby, even if it's not much of one yet."

"Let me guess, Clint said he's sure everything will be fine and now everyone's doubting it?"

"Laura's there though. And they've got Betty as well, and Clint mentioned something about Caitlin Snow helping."

"Speaking of Doctor Snow, her plane should be landing shortly." Natasha offered Sharon her hand and they walked off to find a taxi.

"Fancy us stumbling into an attempt to recreate the particle accelerator explosion on the outskirts of Budapest," Sharon said. "Just when you propose it for a date."

"Budapest and I have a history. And you agreed to it."

"Have you ever come here and not been shot at?"

"I do keep meaning to go sightseeing properly. These things just happen."

"You're as bad as Clint." Sharon kissed her. "When we've taken out the bad guys, we'll go sightseeing."

"I look forward to it. First, the airport."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration for   
> Cisco's suit: http://static7.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_medium/6/66303/2878843-vibe_cv1_ds.jpeg  
> Sharon's suit: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/17/Sharon_Carter_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080106182123  
> Pietro's suit: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/5/50/Pietro_Maximoff_(Earth-616)_001.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/185?cb=20080601202746


End file.
